UPDATE: As the anticipated date for the departure of the UK from the European Union nears, we continue to look at how the different scenarios may affect your CE Marking obligations.

The withdrawal agreement, negotiated between the UK Government and the EU is set to be debated and voted on in the UK parliament in the week beginning 14^th January. We have already explored the possible outcomes should that deal be passed however it is looking ever more likely that the Government will not secure sufficient votes to pass the agreement and therefore we have taken a look at the implications of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit on CE Marking legislation.

As a whole, legacy EU legislation is either written into, or will on the 29^th March be written into UK law, so on the face of it, we should see little difference in the event of a No Deal Brexit. However there are a few nuances of EU legislation that may pose a few headaches; the Machinery Directive (and thus the corresponding UK Statutory Instrument), for instance requires the person responsible for compiling the technical file to be located within the EEA. This will apply equally to machinery put into service by UK manufacturers for their own use as exported machinery. It does, however remain to be seen how vigorously the UK will enforce that clause for machinery within the internal UK market!

Another point of conjecture is the role of Notified Bodies; In January of last year, the European Commission produced a Notice to Stakeholders, which suggested that all Type Examination Certificates issued by UK Notified Bodies would be invalidated on 29^th March, whereas this would make sense for Conformity Assessments requiring ongoing surveillance from a Notified Body, for EU Type Examination Certificates this advice would appear to conflict both with the legislation and the Blue Guide. We would therefore strongly recommend manufacturers seek clarification from their Notified Body as to the validity of any Type Examination Certificate. It should also be noted that.

The CE Marking Association will continue to follow the Brexit process and consider its effects on CE Marking for UK Manufacturers; we will publish updates as they become available however if you wish to discuss any topics related to CE Marking, then please get in contact.

UPDATE: On the evening of 21^st November, the UK and EU agreed a draft agreement on post-Brexit relations, separate from the Withdrawal Agreement agreed last week. We take a look at how these may affect your CE Marking Obligations.

It should be stressed that both agreements require approval in both the UK and European Parliaments and as such should only be considered to be proposals at this time.

The Withdrawal Agreement focuses only on the relationship between the UK and the EU from the point at which the UK leaves the EU on 29^th March 2019 to the point at which the future relationship is agreed; the target for this is the end of 2020. However, the ‘Customs Agreement’ which will exist between the two parties during the transition phase is open-ended in order to prevent a hard border in Ireland. In terms of CE Marking, this means that given approval of the agreement, there will be no change to your CE Marking obligations throughout the transition phase. Don’t forget that in the event of ‘no deal’, the majority of CE Marking legislation is already written into UK legislation.

The draft agreement on the future relationship doesn’t go into anywhere near the detail of the Withdrawal Agreement; being only 26 pages long as opposed to the 585 pages of the latter. On product legislation, it says “The Parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade”. At our recent Annual Seminar, we discussed how the most likely outcome was that any differences in legislation would, in the long term, most probably be limited to the administrative parts of the process; today’s announcement would not appear to contradict that view.

The CE Marking Association will continue to follow the Brexit process and consider its effects on CE Marking for UK Manufacturers; we will publish updates as they become available however if you wish to discuss any topics related to CE Marking, then please get in contact.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive (2011/65/EU) is a CE Marking Directive which focusses on managing the health and environmental impact of hazardous substances by Manufacturers within the EU.

The Directive originally focussed on six substances; listed in Annex II; Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chrome, Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl Ethers (PBDE). An Amendment to the Directive; 2015/863 has been published which adds four more substances; Bis (2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP), Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). The amendment will apply from 22^nd July 2019 with the exception of Medical (including in-vitro) Devices and Monitoring and Control instruments including Industrial Monitoring and Control Instruments for which it will apply from 22^nd July 2021.

The addition of these four phthalates may not have widespread impact as they are already restricted under the Restriction, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACh) Regulation 1907/2006, however Manufacturers are urged to make sure that Technical Files and Declarations reflect this change before the implementation date.

Manufacturers should also be reminded that Category 11 of Annex I of the RoHS Directive; ‘All other EEE’ will fall under the scope of the Directive from 22^nd July 2019.

If you need any help and support with CE Marking under the RoHS Directive, then please call us on 01564 792349

CE Marking Association Annual Seminar 2018

The CE Marking Association’s Annual Seminar was held yesterday (8th November) with a keynote speech from Economic Growth Solutions (EGS) as well as a number of our own in-house speakers. We were also honoured by some very important guests who agreed to give their view on how Brexit may affect Product Legislation!

We would like to thank all our delegates for attending and hope that you found the day informative and productive. Copies of all of the presentations are now available from within the Members’ area of our website.

If you would like to discuss any of the topics raised, then please call us on 01564 792349

The CE Marking Association Annual Seminar will take place this year on 8^th November at Wootton Park. As well 

as our usual Keynote speakers and in-house surgeries, we will be taking a more in-depth look at the impact of Brexit upon Manufacturers’ CE Marking obligations.

The UK and EU Governments have a deadline of 31^st October to agree a deal on the terms of the UK’s exit and therefore the Annual Seminar provides the ideal opportunity to explore the implications of the deal (or no deal) a bit further.

As usual, there will be opportunity to tour our EMC testing facilities as well as speaking to one of our Product Compliance Engineers – we look forward to seeing you there!

The seminar is free for Members or £100 per person for non-members, book your place either by clicking here or by telephoning 01564 792349