The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) left the European Union on 31 January 2020.
The Withdrawal Agreement defined a period during which the rules of the EU single market continued to be applicable in the UK, i.e. until 01 January 2025.
Since this deadline, the UK’s own system of laws, separate from the EU single market, has been in effect. These laws govern access to the UK market but initially apply existing EU regulations. Within the scope of this change, the CE conformity marking has been replaced by the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessment) marking. The technical requirements (essential requirements) and modules of the UKCA remain largely the same as for the EU conformity assessment process. As a result, there is no need for a new technical assessment.
A new transition period has been in place since 1 January 2021 to allow companies to adjust to the new situation and to make the corresponding changes. This applies, in particular, to all electrical products subject to EU regulations and covered by the CE conformity marking.
This transition and the need for the UK conformity marking (UKCA) affects more than 4000 Rittal products.
What does this mean in concrete terms?
Products can continue to be exported to the UK without a UKCA marking until 31 December 2024. From 1 January 2025, goods traded in the UK/the packaging or accompanying documentation must bear the UKCA marking and be shown to be in compliance with applicable UK legislation by means of a UKCA conformity declaration.
By 31 December 2024, all goods imported into the UK must themselves bear the UKCA marking on the product/nameplate itself.
Rittal will meet these requirements for all products by this deadline and declare conformity with the applicable regulations.
The UK conformity declarations will be available on the Rittal website in the same download area as other declarations and certificates for the corresponding products.
Customers who deploy our products in controls/panels, switchgear or data centres that are imported into the UK must also perform a UK conformity assessment. They must comply with the relevant UK standards and regulations, make a corresponding conformity declaration for their products/systems and place the UKCA marking on their products/systems.
