Industry calls for clarity on the CE and UKCA mark transition for construction products

Actuate UK, the voice of the engineering services sector, welcomes the Department of Business & Trade (DBT) announcement to indefinitely extend recognition of CE mark for some goods coming into Great Britain but asks for clarity on construction products.

While DBT includes some products used by the engineering services, such as lifts, most of the constructionproducts come under the scope of the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC), which has currently extended the use of CE Mark till 30 June 2025.

The alliance, which represents the whole supply chain for construction products, from manufacturers, testing and certification facilities, and contractors/users, has previously urged Government to work with industry and agree a joined-up plan on the future of construction product certification and UKCA mark, including transition arrangements, as the process so far has created confusion, anxiety and costs.

Actuate UK has also warned that ambiguity on the certification process could impact products’ safety for the public. We hope that the Government’s response to the Independent Review of the ConstructionProduct Testing Regime will soon provide answers to most of these questions.

Nick Mellor, Managing Director of Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA) welcomed the DBT announcement: “We have had some excellent engagement with DBT and their announcement of recognition of CE marking for placing goods including for lifts, machinery on the market in Great Britain indefinitely beyond December 2024 is a very welcome relief for industry. However, we understand this is only for products under the DBT scope and we would like to see a comprehensive strategy on UK product testing regulations.”

Chris Yates, CEO of Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA), one of the Actuate UK members commented on the situation with construction products: “While DBT announcement will be a huge relief for many manufacturers, the questions remain on construction products. The industry has already made significant investment to make the move to UKCA and manufacturers had to decided which construction products to put on the market based on approval costs. We need DLUHC to decide whether they will follow the DBT announcement and lift the deadline of 30 June 2025 while getting more clarity on further proposed changes in construction product testing regulations.”

TDUK head of technical and trade policy, Nick Boulton, said it had long maintained that continuing recognition of the CE mark is crucial within the construction products industry

“As it stands, pulling away from CE marking has placed more red tape and greater barriers in the way of trade for both UK and foreign manufacturers – without any clear benefits for industry,” he continued.

“Years of uncertainty have had a damaging effect on our sector with unnecessary costs and foreign manufacturers pulling products from the UK market leading to unnecessary product availability issues. – so it is high time the Government had a rethink.

“With this announcement, hopefully we will begin to see Government giving more consideration to the impacts of CE and UKCA marking, and how these changes affect every part of the construction sector.

“We will continue to work with our partners across the construction products industry around these issues, and will update our members on any changes.”