UK Declaration of Conformity

The manufacturer or the authorised representative established within the UK must draw up and sign a UK Declaration of Conformity as part of the conformity assessment procedure provided for in the statutory instruments listed in the UK legislation.

The UK Declaration of Conformity must contain all relevant information to identify the statutory instruments according to which it is issued, as well as the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the approval body if applicable, the product, and where appropriate a reference to dedicated standards or other technical specifications.

A single declaration of conformity is required whenever a product is covered by several pieces of UK legislation requiring an UK Declaration of Conformity.

The single declaration of conformity can be made up of a dossier containing all relevant individual declarations of conformity.

UK legislation imposes an obligation on the manufacturer to draw up and sign an UK Declaration of Conformity before placing a product on the market. The manufacturer or his authorised representative established within the UK must draw up and sign an UK Declaration of Conformity as part of the conformity assessment procedure provided for in the statutory instruments. The UK declaration of conformity is the document that states that the product satisfies all the relevant requirements of the applicable legislation.

By drawing up and signing the UK Declaration of Conformity, the manufacturer assumes responsibility for the compliance of the product.

Just as it is the case for the technical documentation, the UK Declaration of Conformity must be kept for ten years from the date of placing the product on the market, unless the legislation provides for any other duration. This is the responsibility of the manufacturer or the authorised representative established within the UK. For imported products, the importer must take on this responsibility for the Declaration of Conformity

The UK Declaration of Conformity must be kept up to date. The UK Declaration of Conformity is specific to each individual product, even if they are manufactured in series. In practice, the same version of the UK Declaration of conformity may be applicable to many individual products which are manufactured in series. However, as soon as any of the elements of the UK declaration of conformity changes, for example applied design variations the version of the UK declaration of conformity will have to be updated for products placed on the market after that change. Such changes may for example be changes in the legislation, changes in the versions of the dedicated standards or changes in the contact details of the manufacturer or authorised representative.

1. The format of the Declaration of Conformity should contain:

2. A number identifying the product. This number does not need to be unique to each product. It could refer to a product, batch, type or a serial number. This is left to the discretion of the manufacturer.

3. The name and address of the manufacturer or the authorised representative issuing the declaration.

4. A statement that the declaration is issued under the sole responsibility of the manufacturer.

5. The identification of the product allowing traceability. This is basically any relevant information supplementary to point 1 describing the product and allowing for its traceability. It may where relevant for the identification of the product contain an image, but unless specified as a requirement in the legislation this is left to the discretion of the manufacturer.

6. All relevant UK legislation complied with the referenced standards or other technical specifications (such as national technical BS standards and specifications) in a precise, complete and clearly defined way; this implies that the version and/or date of the relevant standard is specified.

7. The name and identification number of the notified body or bodies when they have been involved in the conformity assessment procedure and the reference to the relevant certificate(s), if applicable.

8. All supplementary information that may be required (for example grade, category), if applicable.

9. The place where the technical file is stored in the UK, this can be the manufacturer, authorised representative or importer but they must reside in the UK

10. The date of issue of the declaration; signature and title or an equivalent marking of authorised person; this could be any date after the completion of the conformity assessment

Where several pieces of legislation apply to a product, the manufacturer or the authorised representative has to provide a single declaration of conformity in respect of all such UK Laws. In order to reduce the administrative burden on economic operators and facilitate its adaptation to the modification of one of the applicable UK Laws, the single declaration may be a dossier made up of relevant individual Declarations of conformity

The UK declaration of conformity must be made available to the surveillance authority upon request. Moreover, UK legislation relating to machinery, equipment in potentially explosive atmospheres, radio equipment, measuring instruments, recreational craft, lifts, high-speed and conventional rail systems and constituents of the Air Traffic Management network require products to be accompanied by the UK declaration of conformity.

The UK declaration of conformity must be in English or translated into English this is usually done by the manufacturer or another economic operator making the product available. The manufacturer or his authorised representative must sign the UK declaration of conformity. Suppose a translation of the UK declaration of conformity has been produced by another economic operator and is not signed by the manufacturer. In that case, a copy of the original UK declaration of conformity signed by the manufacturer must also be provided together with the translated version.