Putting all the pieces of product compliance together with Compliance Support

Having your product tested by a laboratory is just one part of the process of demonstrating compliance. Without the other parts, such as labelling, a Declaration of Conformity and a Technical File, you shouldn't be putting a UKCA or CE mark on your product as it's not compliant.

By placing a mark on your product, such as a UKCA or CE mark, you are stating that the product meets all of the essential requirements of the relevant Legislation and Directives which includes other items such as RoHS as well as labelling and importer information.

Have you thought about…..

Labelling – are your products and packaging labelled correctly?

This is one key area that gets missed, and it’s the first thing that gets looked at when a product is inspected, by customs, for example.

If it’s not 100% correct, there’s a risk of delayed or seized products, and there’s more to labelling than just putting a CE mark on your product!

Do you have a Declaration of Conformity for CE and UKCA? Is your Technical File present, correct and up to date?

The documentation that supports your UKCA and CE marking is as necessary as the mark itself. If you are importing products into the EU, from the UK or elsewhere, your nominated importer will need to keep the DoC for ten years and may need access to the technical file if there are any questions.

If you’re importing products into the UK, is the DoC correct, and can you access the technical file? If you can, is it 100% accurate, as you take on responsibilities when placing products onto the market?

Importer or Manufacturer?

Are you an Importer? Are you a Manufacturer? Are you using an Importer to place products onto the GB, NI or EU markets? What is the route to market for your products?

All of these things you will need to consider as they will affect not only the labelling and documentation supporting the product marking but also determine where the legal responsibility for compliance lies.

We often find that companies importing products and selling them in the UK or within the EU under their name are unaware that as far as the legislation is concerned, they are the Manufacturer, regardless of who made the product.

This places additional responsibilities for the labelling, marking and documentation so having this correct is vital to avoid problems.

Self-declaring for UKCA and/or CE marking.

If you’ve used an external test house, what you will be getting from them is a certificate and/or report to show that your product has met the tests that have been done. However, this doesn’t mean that your product is compliant as compliance is much then just testing.

It’s not uncommon to see a test report used as the reason for putting a UKCA or CE mark onto a product. However, without all the other pieces in place, you shouldn’t mark your product with a UKCA or a CE mark as it’s not compliant.

Putting the pieces together with Compliance Support

Compliance Support from Eurofins E&E UK is a service that helps you through all the steps needed to show that your product is compliant, allowing you to place a UKCA or CE mark and be confident that you’ve done what’s required.

This service can be anything from a simple review of a Declaration of Conformity from a supplier to a comprehensive package of ongoing support where we can review what you need to test, what you don’t need to test and what information you need to have in place to demonstrate compliance for both UKCA and CE marking.

To find out how we can help, get in touch, and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help you make sure your products are compliant, now and in the future.

PS If you want to send us a Declaration of Conformity, we’ll have a quick check and let you know if we see any immediate problems-  87% of the DoC’s that we’ve reviewed in 2022 have been wrong in some way!