The Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness, Rushanara Ali, has announced an extension of the recognition of CE marking for construction products in the UK.
This extension, and the longer-term future of CE/UKCA marking, is conditional on a commitment from the Government to system wide reform of the construction products regulatory regime.
In summary this means that:
- CE marking will be accepted past 30 June 2025 for construction products.
- The Government has committed to system wide construction product regulatory reform.
- UKCA marking will remain a valid and accepted regulatory mark.
- The Government will explore the long-term future of CE/UKCA marking as part of this regulatory reform.
- Any subsequent changes to the recognition of CE marking would be subject to a minimum 2-year transitional period.
- The Government will engage with UK Conformity Assessment Bodies, the UK Accreditation Service, and the wider industry to strengthen the conformity assessment market.
The Statement also makes announcements in relation to sprinklers in care homes and National Classes fire testing standards.
The statement by Rushanara Ali, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government), says: “The Home Office will bring forward proposals in the Autumn to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled/vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings in England in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations that relate to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans, or PEEPs. These proposals will be called ‘Residential PEEPs’.
“Through them, residents with disabilities and impairments will be entitled to a person-centred risk assessment to identify appropriate equipment and adjustments to aid their fire safety / evacuation, as well as a ‘Residential PEEPs statement’ that records what vulnerable residents should do in the event of a fire.
“The Government has committed funding next year to begin this important work by supporting social housing providers to deliver Residential PEEPs for their renters. Future years’ funding will be confirmed at the upcoming Spending Review.
“The Government has made progress on delivering recommendation 33.22[d] of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 report, on Evacuation Alert Systems (‘sounders’) for new builds, through amendment to statutory guidance to the building regulations in relation to high-rise residential building design (requiring sounders to be fitted in new buildings over 18 metres in height).
“We will consider further the second part of the recommendation, relating to existing buildings, in light of further evidence or recommendations in the Phase 2 report. This will, like the work on fire safety improvements nationally, be part of the important task of reducing the likelihood and impact of future fires.”
The statement acknoweldges that construction products are a pivotal part of the housing and infrastructure supply chain and make up 13% of the United Kingdom’s (UK) entire manufacturing base by turnover.
“Ensuring continuing supply of products is critical to delivering house building targets and wider infrastructure ambitions,” it cntinues. “These products must be safe. Evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry revealed the scale of concern about construction products – products which are vital to all our buildings and infrastructure – and the system that oversees them remains inadequate.
“A subset of construction products fall within scope of the current construction products regulations. These existing regulations set out rules for placing construction products on the market, providing a common technical language to assess the performance of products. Products within scope of these regulations must undergo an assessment of conformity with the relevant standard or technical assessment. Such products must also be affixed with a UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) or a CE (Conformité Européenne) mark. Current Government guidance sets out that recognition of CE marking will end in June 2025.
I can announce today that the Government will extend the period of recognition of CE marking for construction products. The CE mark will continue to be available when placing construction products on the market across the UK.
“We have listened to the findings from the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime. This was clear that there is currently insufficient testing and certification capacity in the UK alone to provide the volume of conformity assessment that would be required were CE recognition to end. We are also clear that ending recognition of CE marking without reforming the domestic regime would create trade barriers and negatively affect the supply of products that meet recognised standards.
“I am also determined to address the inadequacies across the wider construction products regime. Residents and communities need to be confident that their homes will be safe and well-built now and in the future. To ensure this, the Government will want to take into account any recommendations from the forthcoming Grenfell Inquiry report to inform proposals for reform. Therefore, I am making this extension, and the longer-term future of CE/UKCA marking, conditional on this Government committing to system wide reform of the construction products regulatory regime.
“The Government recognises the role of UK Conformity Assessment Bodies in ensuring compliance of goods on the market. As part of the reforms the Government will work with UK Conformity Assessment Bodies, the UK Accreditation Service, and the wider industry to strengthen the conformity assessment market.
“Lastly, I recognise the need for industry to have sufficient certainty to support supply chains. I can confirm that any subsequent changes to the recognition of CE marking would be subject to a minimum 2-year transitional period.”
