This guidance is about placing manufactured products on the market in Great Britain (GB). Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland
Overview
An individual, fully-manufactured product is placed on the market when it’s first made available for distribution, consumption or use on the GB market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge.
This requires an offer or agreement for the transfer of ownership, possession, or any other property right of an individual product, after the stage of manufacture is complete.
‘Placing a product on the market’ refers to individual products and not a type of product. It does not require the physical transfer of the product.
You can usually provide proof of placing on the market on the basis of any relevant document ordinarily used in business transactions, including:
contracts of sale concerning goods which have already been manufactured and meet the legal requirements invoices documents concerning the shipping of goods for distribution
Businesses are encouraged to be ready for full implementation of the new UK regime as soon as possible. However, to allow businesses time to adjust, CE marked goods in scope of this guidance that meet EU requirements (where these match UK requirements) can continue to be placed on the GB market until 11pm on 31 December 2024. This includes goods which have been assessed by an EU-recognised notified body.
The UKCA mark must be used for placing goods on the GB market from 11pm on 31 December 2024.
You will still need to take action to ensure you comply with importer responsibilities if you’re placing a product on the GB market from outside the UK.
Products sold online
If fully manufactured products are made available online and targeted at GB end users, such that an offer for the transfer of ownership, possession, or any other property right in those products are made, they are considered placed on the GB market. If this happens after 11pm on 31 December 2024, such products will require the UKCA marking.
The physical transfer of products is not required for the products to be placed on the market, so the location of the product when it is placed on the GB market is not the decisive factor. When considering transactions between different economic operators, transactions between operators established outside of the UK do not constitute placing on the GB market.
Existing imported CE-marked stock
Fully manufactured and conformity-assessed CE-marked products which have been imported into GB under contract before 11pm on 31 December 2024 are considered as ‘placed on the GB market’.
Therefore, these products do not need to undergo any re-testing and re-certification or re-labelling to meet UKCA requirements. However, the products should still be checked to ensure they meet the requirements of EU law before they are further made available.
A record should be kept of documentation which demonstrates the product was imported into GB under contract before 1 January 2025. Market surveillance authorities may request this.
Spare parts
Products which are repaired, refurbished or exchanged without changing their original performance, purpose, or type, are not considered ‘new’ and therefore do not need to be recertified and remarked.
This includes if the product is temporarily exported for repair (as the product is not being placed on the GB market for the first time when re-imported).
Repair, replacement and maintenance operations are often carried out using other products which are spare parts. Spare parts are considered to have been placed on the market at the time at which the original product or system they are ultimately intended to repair, replace or maintain was placed on the market.
This means that spare parts can comply with the same conformity assessment requirements that were in place at the time the original product or system they are ultimately intended to repair, replace or maintain was placed on the market.
The definition of a spare part will vary depending on the commercial context, but it is broadly determined by a product’s ultimate intended usage. Whether a product is ultimately intended to be used as a spare part should be evidenced by any document demonstrating this intended use, which should be produced when requested by market surveillance authorities.
If the product has been subject to important changes, substantially changing its original performance, purpose, or type, it will be considered as a ‘new’ product. Therefore, the modified product must comply with GB regulatory requirements, including the requirement for UKCA marking from 11pm on 31 December 2024.
This guidance is intended to sit alongside existing provisions for spare parts in the regulations and continues established practice in GB.
Second-hand products
Second-hand products which have been imported and placed on the GB market for the first time after 11pm on 31 December 2022 will need to be UKCA marked (if they are covered by the UKCA regime).
If a second-hand product was lawfully first placed on the EU market before 11pm on 31 December 2020, it can subsequently be made available on the GB market without the need for UKCA marking, as long as it hasn’t reached its end user. However, if they have been substantially modified, there may be a need for remarking.