When you make an electronic or electrical product, you cannot simply start selling it. You must first make sure it meets the conformity rules that apply to that type of product, prove it, and mark it. This guide is for makers and importers of computer, electronic and optical products (SIC division 26) placing products on the market in Great Britain.
Several separate regimes can apply to the same product at once. A mains-powered wireless speaker, for example, must meet the electrical safety rules, the electromagnetic compatibility rules, the radio equipment rules, the restriction on hazardous substances and the waste recycling rules. Work out which apply to your product, then satisfy each one before you place the product on the market.
One distinction runs through the whole guide. Product safety and the UKCA marking are a Great Britain matter: they apply when you place a product on the market in England, Scotland or Wales. The other regimes covered here — hazardous substances, waste, electromagnetic compatibility, radio and measuring instruments — apply UK-wide . Northern Ireland follows the EU product rules and CE marking under the Windsor Framework, so check the NI position separately if you sell there.
Make sure your product is safe
Every electrical and electronic product you place on the GB market must be safe and must meet the applicable conformity-assessment regime, backed by a declaration of conformity and a technical file, and carrying the UKCA marking. Mains-powered equipment is the most heavily regulated; products without a more specific regime fall back on the general safety baseline. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and local Trading Standards police this. Start here, because the safety regime is the foundation the other regimes sit on top of.
Electromagnetic compatibility and radio equipment
Almost every electronic product must not interfere with other equipment and must tolerate interference itself. This electromagnetic compatibility duty applies UK-wide and sits alongside the safety regime. Assess it for any product that contains electronics.
If your product intentionally transmits or receives radio waves — for example anything with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular or a radio module — a single, broader regime applies instead. The radio equipment rules fold in the electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility requirements, so a true radio product is assessed once against the radio regime rather than separately against each. Decide early whether your product is radio equipment, because it changes which route you follow.
Restricted substances and end-of-life recycling
Two more UK-wide regimes apply to the materials your product is made from and what happens to it when it is thrown away. The first restricts hazardous substances in the equipment itself; you assess and document this as part of the same conformity and technical-file work as the safety and compatibility regimes.
The second is a producer-responsibility duty: because you place electrical and electronic equipment on the UK market, you must register, mark your products, report the quantities you place on the market and help finance their collection and recycling. Unlike the conformity regimes, this is an ongoing registration and reporting obligation, usually met by joining a compliance scheme, so plan for it as a recurring duty rather than a one-off check.
If you make measuring or weighing instruments
This last regime applies only to a specific class of product. If you make instruments used for trade or official measurement — meters, fuel dispensers, taximeters, trade weighing scales — a legal-metrology conformity regime applies on top of the rules above, with its own assessment, accuracy classes and metrology marking. General test and measurement instruments that are not used for trade do not engage it and rely on the product-safety regime instead. If this is not your product, skip this section.
Steps to place your product on the GB market
Whichever regimes apply, the placing-on-market sequence is the same. Work through it in order; the early steps decide how much work the later ones involve.
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1. Classify your product
Identify what your product is and what it does — mains-powered or not, radio or non-radio, a measuring instrument used for trade or not. This decides which regimes apply.
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2. Identify every applicable regime
List all the regimes that bite on your product. Most electronics engage safety, electromagnetic compatibility, hazardous substances and waste at once; radio products are assessed under the radio regime instead of the separate safety and compatibility routes.
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3. Assess conformity against the designated standards
Carry out the conformity-assessment procedure for each applicable regime, testing against the relevant designated standards. Some regimes and higher-risk products need an approved body; many allow you to self-assess.
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4. Compile the technical documentation
Build and keep a technical file showing how your product meets each regime. You must be able to produce it for OPSS or Trading Standards on request.
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5. Draw up the declaration of conformity
Sign a declaration listing every regime the product complies with. As the manufacturer you take legal responsibility for its accuracy.
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6. Apply the UKCA marking and any other required markings
Mark the product correctly, including the crossed-out wheeled-bin symbol for waste recycling and, for trade instruments, the metrology marking. Check whether CE marking is still accepted for your product.
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7. Register and report under producer responsibility
Register as a producer for waste electrical and electronic equipment (usually through a compliance scheme) and keep up the ongoing reporting, which continues for as long as you place products on the market.
What to do next
If you are an importer rather than the maker, you do not repeat the conformity assessment, but you must check the manufacturer has done it, keep a copy of the declaration of conformity, and make sure the product is correctly marked before you place it on the GB market. You share legal responsibility if it is not.
Before you sell in Northern Ireland, check the position there separately: NI continues to apply the EU product rules and CE marking under the Windsor Framework, so the GB UKCA route does not automatically cover you. If you are unsure which regimes apply to a particular product, confirm it with OPSS before you commit to a marking or a production run — it is far cheaper to check than to recall.
Official sources
Regulators and statutory guidance for placing electronic and electrical products on the market