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.”
