Field note · Product compliance
You may not need the UKCA mark at all. What the CE decision covers.
For three years after Brexit the message to manufacturers was: UKCA is coming, get ready. Then in 2024 the government made CE recognition indefinite for most product regulations, and the message became: probably not, unless you are in one of seven areas. This is where the line is drawn, as of the guidance updated in August 2026.
The short answer
For most products, no. Under the Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024, Great Britain continues to recognise the CE marking, alongside or instead of UKCA, for over twenty product types — machinery, toys, radio equipment, electrical equipment, PPE, pressure equipment and others — with no end date. The exceptions are construction products, marine equipment, medical devices, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems, each with its own rules. Northern Ireland follows EU rules regardless.
The UKCA mark was announced in 2019 as the replacement for CE marking in Great Britain, with a deadline for switching that kept moving. In 2024 the government stopped moving it. The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024 let economic operators meet Great Britain’s conformity assessment and testing requirements by complying with the corresponding EU ones, and the GOV.UK guidance now states the position plainly: where the aims and requirements of product regulations meet the UK’s needs, the UK continues to recognise the CE marking, alongside or in place of UKCA, for the Great Britain market.
No end date. For over twenty product types.
Which regulations does the 2024 instrument actually amend?
Twenty-one, by our count of its contents: measuring container bottles; outdoor equipment noise; machinery; aerosols; ecodesign; toys; RoHS; explosives; pyrotechnics; electromagnetic compatibility; simple pressure vessels; lifts; electrical equipment; pressure equipment; equipment for explosive atmospheres; non-automatic weighing instruments; measuring instruments; recreational craft; radio equipment; personal protective equipment; and gas appliances. If your product’s declaration of conformity cites one of those regulations, the CE route stays open in Great Britain, and a UKCA mark is a choice rather than a requirement.
So does UKCA still exist?
Yes, and you can still use it. The recognition is of CE alongside or in place of UKCA, not a withdrawal of UKCA. Some manufacturers will keep the UK mark because their conformity assessment was done by a UK approved body, or because a customer’s procurement specification asks for it. What has gone is the obligation to switch.
Why this is not the end of the conversation
Because a marking is a claim about conformity, and conformity is demonstrated against standards. Great Britain publishes designated standards; the EU publishes harmonised ones in the Official Journal. They were the same lists once. They have diverged, and a reference can be live on one and lapsed on the other. Recognising the CE mark does not merge the lists.
That leaves a manufacturer selling into both markets with two questions instead of one: does the standard I cite still confer presumption of conformity under the EU regulation, and does it still do so under the British one? The second question is the one our checker answers, against all thirteen GOV.UK consolidated lists — and when we read those lists in September, 699 of 3,517 standards carried a cessation date. The mark on the product does not change that arithmetic.
The seven exceptions
Construction products, marine equipment, medical devices, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems each sit under their own regime with their own guidance page and, in several cases, their own transition dates. If you are in one of those, this note is not your answer and the general guidance is not either: go to the specific page for your sector, and read its “last updated” date before you rely on it.
What to do with this
- Find your regulation, not your product. The question is which statutory instrument your declaration cites, and whether it is one of the twenty-one.
- If it is, stop planning the UKCA switch and put the effort into the standards the declaration relies on, which is where the dates are.
- If it is one of the seven, treat the sector guidance as primary and diarise its next update.
- Northern Ireland is separate. Goods placed on the Northern Ireland market follow EU rules; a CE mark is required there regardless of what Great Britain recognises.
Questions people actually ask
Is UKCA marking still required in 2026?
For most product types, no. Under the Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024, Great Britain recognises the CE marking indefinitely, alongside or in place of UKCA, for over twenty product types including machinery, toys, radio and electrical equipment, PPE and pressure equipment. UKCA remains available as an alternative. The exceptions are construction products, marine equipment, medical devices, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems.
Which products are not covered by indefinite CE recognition?
GOV.UK’s UKCA guidance, updated 21 August 2026, lists seven areas with their own rules: construction products, marine equipment, medical devices, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and uncrewed aircraft systems. Each has a separate guidance page and, in several cases, its own transition dates.
Does CE recognition mean EU harmonised standards apply in Great Britain?
No. Great Britain recognises the CE mark as a route to demonstrating conformity, but it publishes its own designated standards, separately from the EU’s harmonised standards in the Official Journal. The two lists have diverged, so a manufacturer selling into both markets still has to check the cited standards against each list.
Do I need CE or UKCA in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland follows EU product rules, so the CE mark is required for goods placed on that market regardless of what Great Britain recognises. GOV.UK publishes a separate product marking table for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Sources
- GOV.UK, “Using the UKCA marking”, guidance last updated 21 August 2026: “Where the aims and requirements of product regulations meet the needs of the UK, the UK continues to recognise the CE (European Conformity) marking, alongside or in place of the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking, for the Great Britain market under The Product Safety and Metrology (Amendment) Regulations 2024.” The seven excluded areas are listed on the same page. source ↗ — primary; the department’s own guidance re-checked every 6 months
- The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/696. The explanatory note describes provision “allowing relevant economic operators to meet any conformity assessment or testing requirements in the legislation as it applies in Great Britain by complying with the corresponding EU conformity assessment or testing requirements.” The count of twenty-one amended instruments is ours, from the contents. source ↗ — primary; the legislation re-checked every 6 months
- The divergence between designated and harmonised standards, and the 699-of-3,517 figure, are from our own reading of the thirteen GOV.UK consolidated lists on 8 September 2026. source ↗ — our own count from a primary source re-checked every 6 months
- None of this is a conformity assessment or legal advice about a particular product. It is what two government pages and one statutory instrument say, read on the dates given. — a limitation, stated
Checked 11 September 2026. Next scheduled check 10 March 2027. Numbers that move — leaderboards, live indices — are re-checked every 30 days; annual datasets and rules in force every six months; dated research once a year. If something here has gone stale before we got to it, tell us and we will correct it and say what changed.
The mark is settled. The standards behind it are the work.
We do compliance evidence work for manufacturers who sign declarations: which cited standards have stopped counting, on which list, and what to re-issue — with the row and the source attached. The free checker is the spot check; if it finds nothing has moved, there is no work here.
Talk to us about this