Businesses given more time to apply new product safety marking

Businesses given more time to apply new product safety marking

Government confirms businesses will have an extra year to start using the new product safety marking – the UKCA marking.

Businesses will have an additional year to apply new product safety markings for most products placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales, the government has announced on 24th August.

Recognising the impact of the pandemic on businesses, the government will extend this deadline to 1 January 2023 to apply UKCA marks for certain products to demonstrate compliance with product safety regulations, rather than 1 January 2022.

The UKCA marking replaces the product safety labelling the UK previously used while a member of the EU, such as the CE mark.

Today’s announcement, it says, follows the government’s extensive and ongoing engagement with business groups and reflects the issues businesses have raised, particularly given the impact of the pandemic.

Businesses must take action to ensure they are ready to apply UKCA marking by 1 January 2023, the final deadline.

Opchat News has provided several storylines since late June on the incoming new MDA legislation, its affects on our industry, and its datelines that will be enforced.

This new deferred date provides clarity on when the UK must use the UKCA marking however there has been no guidance on whether the 30th June 2023 date remains which dictates the date companies cannot sell to UK opticians products with CE sole markings not previously placed originally in the legislation before January 1st 2021 but now 2022. Presumably this date should be deferred in line?

We will keep you informed. See our original dateline report here