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 14th 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 29th 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 29th 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.
