Apply UKCA marking to your products

Check which marking your product needs

A product needs a conformity marking only where a sector regulation requires one. Batteries and fertilisers, for example, carry no product marking in Great Britain. Where a regulation does require a marking, you work out which regulations apply to your product, and many products come under more than one. The product must comply with all of them before you can mark it.

For aerosol dispensers and measuring container bottles, the alternative to UKCA marking is the reversed epsilon rather than CE marking. Other sectors, such as construction products, medical devices and marine equipment, follow their own rules and dates, and some use other marks. UKCA marking does not apply in the Crown Dependencies or the British Overseas Territories.

Use UKCA marking when you want one conformity route for Great Britain, or when you have no EU assessment to rely on. For products under the 21 regulations, if you have already met EU requirements, including any assessment by an EU notified body, you can sell in Great Britain with CE marking. You can also carry both marks if the product meets both sets of requirements and each mark is clearly visible.

Know who is responsible

The manufacturer carries most of the responsibility. You are the manufacturer if you make the product, or have it designed or made and sell it under your own name or trade mark. You can appoint an authorised representative established in the UK to carry out tasks you set out in writing, such as affixing the mark, signing the Declaration of Conformity and keeping the technical documentation. They usually cannot be made responsible for the product's design, and you stay responsible for any task you hand over.

An importer or distributor that sells under its own name, or changes a product in a way that affects compliance, takes on the manufacturer's duties.

Meet the essential requirements

Product regulations set essential requirements for health and safety, performance and environmental protection. They state the aim and not the technical solution. You remain responsible for assessing every risk the product poses and recording how you dealt with each.

Choose your conformity assessment route

The product regulation sets the route. Some regulations let you declare conformity yourself, for example for electrical equipment and electromagnetic compatibility. Others require third-party assessment for some or all products.

An EU notified body can only certify against EU requirements. Its certificate supports CE marking, or UKCA marking under Fast-Track UKCA.

Prepare your documents

Prepare a technical file, which can usually be digital. It includes your test reports, design documents, risk assessments and anything else the product regulation lists.

Once you are satisfied the product complies, draw up a Declaration of Conformity yourself or through your authorised representative. Some regulations call it a Declaration of Performance, and some also require a Declaration of Incorporation for partly completed machinery.

Mark the product

Affix the UKCA marking yourself or through your authorised representative.

Cableways, construction products, marine equipment, medical devices, rail products, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems have their own marking rules.

Show your name, registered trade name or trade mark, and postal address on the product, as an importer must too. The regulation may add other details, such as a type, batch or serial number, or the number of the conformity assessment body. Send clear instructions in easily understandable English with the product.

Act if a product does not comply

If you have reason to believe a product on the market does not meet the requirements, you must take the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity, or withdraw or recall it. You may face a fine and imprisonment if you do not cooperate with an enforcement body.