Business guidance

Manufacturing & Engineering

Apply for an environmental permit for a Part A(1) installation

If you run a Part A(1) installation in England, such as a combustion plant of 50MW thermal input or more, you need a bespoke permit from the Environment Agency before you operate. You must show best available techniques and, for new electricity-generating plant, decarbonisation readiness. Most new permits are decided within 4 months.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Biocides and Pesticides Authorisation

Get HSE CRD authorisation for biocidal and pesticidal products.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Choosing a UK Approved Body for medical devices

You need a UK Approved Body to UKCA mark any medical device above Class I, and for the sterility or measuring aspects of Class Is and Im devices. Higher classes face fuller assessment, up to design examination and clinical data review for Class III, so pick a body whose designated scope covers your device.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Classify your medical device for the GB market

Before placing a medical device on the Great Britain market, you must classify it under the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 by its intended purpose, invasiveness and duration of contact. The class decides whether you can self-certify, as for most Class I devices, or need a UK Approved Body.

Retail & Consumer Goods

CLP Chemical Classification and Labelling

Classify, label and package hazardous chemicals under GB CLP.

Retail & Consumer Goods

CLP labelling for candles and wax melts

Yes, once a sensitiser in the fragrance oil reaches its limit, you need a CLP hazard label or a short allergy statement. If no sensitiser reaches a limit, you must still check the finished product for other hazards before concluding that no CLP label is needed.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Comply with UK Emissions Trading Scheme

If you run a regulated installation or aviation operation, or from 1 July 2026 qualifying ships, monitor your greenhouse gas emissions through the year, submit a verified report by 31 March and surrender enough allowances to cover them by 30 April. Missing these triggers automatic penalties.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control and monitor air emissions

If your industrial activity releases pollutants to air, you need an environmental permit from the Environment Agency or your local authority, depending on its tier. The permit sets emission limits, monitoring and reporting duties, and operating without it or breaching it is an offence carrying up to five years in prison.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control explosion and major-accident hazards at a refinery or coke works

A refinery or coke works holding dangerous substances above the COMAH thresholds must notify the competent authority before building, keep a major accident prevention policy and, at upper tier, a safety report and emergency plan. Flammable vapours also need a DSEAR assessment and hazardous-area zoning.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control fume, explosive atmospheres and major-accident hazards at a metal production plant

Metal fume and dust must be controlled under COSHH, with local exhaust ventilation tested at least every 14 months and more often for some casting and grinding work. Process gases and metal dusts need a DSEAR assessment and zoning, and large inventories of dangerous substances bring COMAH duties.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control fume, isocyanates and machinery risks in a rubber or plastics factory

Rubber and plastics processing has its own legal exposure limits: 0.6 mg/m3 for rubber fume and 6 mg/m3 for rubber process dust. Control isocyanates and styrene, examine extraction at least every 14 months, and guard and isolate mills, mixers and calenders before anyone works on them.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control respirable crystalline silica in a mineral products factory

Cutting, crushing and grinding sand, stone, clay and cement produces respirable crystalline silica, which can cause cancer. Keep exposure below 0.1 mg/m³ over 8 hours, control it at source, have extraction examined at least every 14 months and arrange health surveillance where COSHH requires it.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Control wood dust and woodworking machinery in a furniture factory

Wood dust can cause asthma, and hardwood dust can cause cancer of the nose. Keep exposure below the legal limits with extraction at every machine, have the extraction examined at least every 14 months, guard your saws and spindle moulders, and train everyone who uses them.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Design packaging that meets the legal requirements

If you fill, import or brand packaging, it must meet the essential requirements on weight, recovery and hazardous substances, and its lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium must total no more than 100 ppm. You must keep proof for 4 years, and any recyclability claim must not mislead.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Electrical product safety compliance

If you make, import or sell electrical equipment rated between 50V and 1,000V AC or 75V and 1,500V DC for Great Britain, it must meet the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016. Keep technical documentation, issue a declaration of conformity and apply UKCA or CE marking.

Manufacturing & Engineering

End-of-life and restricted-substance duties for vehicle manufacturers

As long as you place vehicles on the UK market, you must provide free take-back of end-of-life vehicles and meet the reuse, recycling and recovery targets. The materials and components in your vehicles must also comply with UK REACH restrictions.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Environmental permits and effluent controls for textile finishing and leather tanning

Textile dyeing and finishing and leather tanning need an environmental permit before you operate. If you discharge process water to the public sewer, you also need trade effluent consent from your sewerage undertaker, and raw hides and skins fall under animal by-products controls.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get authorisation for a water activity in Scotland (EASR)

In Scotland, any activity affecting surface water or groundwater, such as abstraction, engineering or discharges, needs SEPA authorisation, and doing it without one is a criminal offence. SEPA decides which of four risk-based tiers your activity falls into, from general binding rules to a permit.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Get licensed to make weapons and ammunition

You must have your authorities in place before you make any firearms or ammunition, starting with registration as a firearms dealer with the police. Making ammunition, propellants or explosives also needs an explosives licence, and holdings above the COMAH thresholds bring major-accident duties.

Construction & Property

Get the specialist approvals for the systems you repair and install

Gas work without Gas Safe registration is an offence, and refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump work needs F-gas certification for both your company and your engineers. Aircraft maintenance needs CAA Part-145 approval before you start.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Hallmarking rules for jewellery

Usually yes: silver you sell as silver needs a UK hallmark unless the piece is light enough to be exempt. You must also display the Dealer's Notice and keep nickel, cadmium and lead within the legal limits.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Label and place textiles, clothing and footwear on the GB market

Before you sell textiles, clothing or footwear in Great Britain, label their fibre or material composition, and make sure nightwear meets the flammability rules. Every product must be safe, and anything that is personal protective equipment must meet the PPE rules too.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Manage environmental permits and water at your paper mill

A pulp or paper installation above the regulated capacity needs an environmental permit before it operates. Discharging effluent to the public sewer needs your sewerage undertaker's consent, and taking water from a river or borehole above the threshold needs an abstraction licence.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Manage solvents, inks and emissions in printing

If you use solvent-based inks, coatings or cleaning agents above the threshold, your print works needs an air-emissions permit that controls VOC emissions. The substances in your inks and cleaning chemicals are also subject to UK REACH.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Manage the medical devices you buy and use

Buy only medical devices with a UKCA marking or a recognised CE marking, keep a record for each device, maintain and examine it, and train its users. Report adverse incidents and near misses to the MHRA, and consult a radiation protection adviser if you use X-ray equipment.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Medical device compliance checklist

Before placing a medical device on the Great Britain market, confirm you have classified it, completed the right conformity assessment, compiled technical documentation, affixed the UKCA or CE mark and registered with the MHRA. Since 16 June 2025, you also need a post-market surveillance system that meets the enhanced rules.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet motor fuel quality and hydrocarbon oil duty

Petrol and diesel for road vehicles must meet the statutory limits on sulphur and other composition parameters before you put them on the market. The mineral oils you produce are also subject to excise duty under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet packaging producer responsibility and Plastic Packaging Tax

If you make 10 or more tonnes of finished plastic packaging components in a 12-month period, you must register with HMRC, file quarterly returns and pay Plastic Packaging Tax. You must also collect and report data on your packaging under extended producer responsibility.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet the food-contact rules for paper and board

Paper and board that touches food, such as cartons, cups and baking paper, must be safe, correctly marked, traceable and made to good manufacturing practice. Councils enforce these rules, and breaking them is a criminal offence. Plastic layers, coatings and inks bring further rules, and Northern Ireland applies EU law.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet the furniture fire-safety and product-safety rules

Upholstered furniture, mattresses, cushions and loose covers must meet the ignition-resistance and labelling rules of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 before you sell them. Furniture outside that regime must still be safe.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet your annual UK ETS obligations

If you run an installation covered by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, you need a permit and registry account, must monitor emissions all year, submit a verified report by 31 March and surrender allowances to cover them by 30 April. Missing the surrender deadline brings a penalty for every allowance not surrendered.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet your environmental permit and emissions trading duties

Cement and lime kilns and glass and ceramic furnaces need an environmental permit before they operate. Cement, lime and glass production also fall within the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, and so can ceramic firing above a capacity threshold.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Operate a safe chemical manufacturing site

A chemical site holding qualifying quantities of named dangerous substances must meet COMAH major-accident duties, and an industrial-scale installation needs an environmental permit before it operates. Any site handling flammable or reactive substances must also control fire and explosion risks under DSEAR.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Packaging Producer Responsibility

Register for EPR, report packaging data, and meet recycling obligations through PRN/PERN purchases or compliance schemes.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place a medical device on the GB market

To place medical devices on the GB market, you must classify them, follow the right conformity assessment route and register them with the MHRA. UKCA marking has no expiry date, and CE marking under the old EU directives is accepted until 30 June 2028.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place basic metal products on the GB market

Structural and reinforcing steel and other load-bearing metal for construction need a declaration of performance and UKCA or CE marking before you place them on the market. Metal products outside a specific regime must still be safe.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place chemical substances and products on the GB market

Before you supply chemicals in Great Britain, register your substances under UK REACH, then classify, label and package every substance and mixture under GB CLP. Biocides, pesticides and cosmetics also need authorisation or notification before sale.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place electronic and electrical products on the GB market

Every electrical and electronic product you place on the GB market must be safe, with a declaration of conformity, a technical file and the UKCA marking where a regime applies. Most products must also meet the electromagnetic compatibility, restricted substances and WEEE rules.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place fabricated metal products on the market

Boilers and pressure vessels above the pressure and volume thresholds must meet the Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, and structural steelwork needs a declaration of performance and conformity marking. Metal products outside a specific regime must still be safe.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place machinery and equipment on the market

Before you sell a machine in Great Britain, it must meet each product regime that covers it, and one machine can fall under several. Machinery, EMC, pressure equipment, simple pressure vessels and lifts all accept UKCA or CE marking.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place non-metallic mineral products on the market

Cement, aggregates, concrete, bricks, tiles and construction glass covered by a designated standard need a declaration of performance and conformity marking before you sell them. Domestic glassware, ceramics and other goods outside a specific regime must still be safe.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place paper products on the market

Paper or board that touches food, such as cartons, cups and baking papers, must meet the food-contact materials rules. Other paper consumer goods must be safe, and the packaging you make or use brings extended producer responsibility duties.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place rubber and plastic products on the market

Plastic tableware, food containers and food packaging must meet the food-contact materials rules, and new and retreaded tyres must meet type-approval standards. PVC-U windows, pipes and other builders' ware need a declaration of performance and conformity marking.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Place wood and wood products on the market

If you are first to place timber on the GB market, the UK Timber Regulation bans illegally harvested timber and requires a due-diligence system. Construction timber needs conformity marking, wood-based panels have formaldehyde limits, and export pallets must meet ISPM 15.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Placing medical devices on the Northern Ireland market

Under the Windsor Framework, medical devices placed on the Northern Ireland market must meet the EU Medical Devices Regulation and carry a CE mark, not UKCA alone. If a UK Approved Body assesses the device, add the UKNI mark, and non-UK manufacturers need an EU Authorised Representative.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Plastic Packaging Tax

Tax obligations for businesses importing or manufacturing plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Post-market surveillance for medical devices

If you place medical devices on the Great Britain market, you must run a post-market surveillance system proportionate to their risk class, under enhanced rules in force since 16 June 2025. That means a written plan, active data collection, trend analysis, summary reports and field safety corrective action when needed.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Product standards and CE marking for the Northern Ireland market

Under the Windsor Framework, goods placed on the Northern Ireland market follow EU product rules, so products covered by EU harmonised rules need CE marking; UKCA marking alone is not valid there. Since 13 December 2024, the EU General Product Safety Regulation has also applied in Northern Ireland.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register for and pay the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM)

From 1 January 2027, if your business imports aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, iron or steel goods, you must keep a record of each one and register with HMRC once their customs value passes the threshold. You then file returns and pay a charge based on the emissions embodied in the goods.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Report a medical device safety incident to MHRA

If your medical device is involved in a serious incident in Great Britain, report it to the MHRA through the MORE portal: within 2 calendar days for a serious public health threat, 10 for a death or unanticipated serious deterioration, and 15 for other serious incidents. Failing to report is a criminal offence.

Manufacturing & Engineering

SECR and ESOS - energy and carbon reporting

Mandatory energy and emissions reporting requirements for large companies and LLPs.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Sell homemade soap and skincare

Soap and skincare you make at home are cosmetic products, with no exemption for small makers. Before your first sale you need a Responsible Person, a signed safety report and, in Great Britain, an SCPN notification. Northern Ireland uses the EU CPNP system instead.

Technology & Digital

Software and AI as medical devices (SaMD/AIaMD)

Software with a medical purpose, such as diagnosing, monitoring or treating disease, is a medical device in its own right and must be registered with the MHRA before going on the Great Britain market. Many such products are Class I now, but most are expected to move to at least Class IIa.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Toy safety compliance in Great Britain

If you make, import or sell toys in Great Britain, they must meet the essential safety requirements of the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011, including limits on small parts and chemicals. Grade each toy for age, add the required warnings and apply UKCA or CE marking; breaches are criminal offences.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Type-approve and place motor vehicles, trailers and components on the GB market

Before you sell a motor vehicle, trailer or bodywork in Great Britain, it needs type approval from the Vehicle Certification Agency, including emissions and CO2 approval. Components such as lighting, glazing and brakes need their own approval, and replacement parts must be safe.

Manufacturing & Engineering

UKCA and CE marking for medical devices

Medical devices on the Great Britain market can carry a UKCA mark, which has no expiry, or a CE mark during the transition: until 30 June 2028 for devices certified under the old directives and 30 June 2030 under the EU MDR or IVDR. Northern Ireland requires CE marking.

Manufacturing & Engineering

UK REACH and CITES rules for textiles and leather

UK REACH limits chromium VI in leather that touches the skin, formaldehyde from treatments, and named substances in dyes and inks. Using listed endangered species, such as some exotic leathers, furs and feathers, needs a CITES permit or certificate.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Vaping Products Duty

From 1 October 2026, excise duty is charged on all vaping liquid made in or imported into the UK, whether or not it contains nicotine. You need HMRC approval before you produce vaping products or hold them in duty suspension, and every product must carry a duty stamp by 1 April 2027.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Vehicle Type Approval

Get type approval for vehicles manufactured or imported into GB.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Water abstraction licences and drinking water quality in Northern Ireland

How water is regulated in Northern Ireland for two different kinds of business: a mill or other user that takes water from a river, lough or borehole and needs an abstraction and impoundment licence from NIEA, and a water undertaker that supplies drinking water and must meet the 2017 Water Quality Regulations enforced by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

Manufacturing & Engineering

WEEE and battery producer responsibility for electronics manufacturers

If you make, import or rebrand electrical equipment or batteries, you usually count as a producer: join a compliance scheme, report what you place on the market each year and fund its recycling. Mark products with the crossed-out wheeled-bin symbol.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Which approval regime applies to your transport equipment

Transport equipment must meet the approval or safety regime for its type before you sell it, and each has its own regulator. Road vehicles and motorcycles need GB type-approval from the Vehicle Certification Agency; boats, trains, aircraft and bicycles each follow a different regime.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Which chemical regulations apply to your products and site

If you manufacture or import 1 tonne or more of a substance a year, you must register it under UK REACH and classify and label it under GB CLP. Biocides, pesticides, cosmetics, major-hazard sites and explosives each add a further regime.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Which conformity regime applies to electrical products

Every electrical or electronic product needs a safety route, and most also face electromagnetic compatibility and hazardous substances rules, with extra regimes for radio equipment, plugs and trade measuring instruments. Product safety and UKCA marking are Great Britain rules; the other regimes apply UK-wide, with OPSS as the main regulator.

Tax & Finance

Check if you need to register for VAT

You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.

Compliance & Legal

File your confirmation statement

File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.

Premises & Operations

Meet your business waste duty of care

Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.

Compliance & Legal

Verify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC

Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.