CE to UKCA marking and lintel specification

UKCA marking is a new ‘UK Conformity Assessed’ mark that is added to construction products to show they are suitable for sale in Great Britain.

The UKCA mark will be similar to CE marking, however, whilst it will be mandatory in Great Britain, it will not be required, or indeed recognised, within the European market. So, products carrying only a UKCA mark will not be suitable for sale into the EU.

The CE mark and UKCA mark also differ in the approved assessment bodies that can be used. These appointed organisations are allowed to carry out assessments on products to ensure that they conform to the required standards.

The European Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) are not recognised as suitable for assessments for the UKCA mark and, equally, United Kingdom CABs can no longer be used for CE marking assessments.

From the 1^st of January 2023, only those lintels that carry the UKCA mark can be specified for use within England, Scotland or Wales.

Why is UKCA Marking required?

UKCA marking is required as a result of Brexit. When the UK left the European Union it initially adopted all of the harmonised standards within Europe onto its own statute books and they became known within the UK as ‘Designated Standards’.

This meant that, at the time of Brexit, all the harmonised European standards and their corresponding UK Designated Standards were identical. However, after Brexit, the UK Government wanted to introduce a mechanism where it had control over standards it would accept in the future.

The introduction of the UKCA mark, means that any future amendments to existing harmonised European standards, or creation of any new European standards, will not necessarily be reflected within the UK’s Designated Standards.

It also means that the UK could itself introduce new Designated Standards that do not exist in Europe and require any products sold on the GB market to comply with the new standard by affixing the UKCA mark.

As with the CE mark, the UKCA mark requires the lintel manufacturer to make a Declaration of Performance (DoP). This DoP confirms that the product has met all the relevant legal requirements and it must be in place before the UKCA mark can be issued.

The original source of the existing test data must be checked by the manufacturer to ensure it is still recognised for the UKCA mark and any additional testing undertaken where required.

Where lintels are also sold into Europe a similar exercise must be carried out to ensure that test data for CE marking also remains valid.

All Catnic lintels already meet the requirements of the new UKCA mark and, following additional testing with a European Notified Body, also continue to carry the CE mark.

This makes Catnic lintels the perfect choice for your project no matter what its geographical location. To assist you with your specification you could try our lintel product selector or contact our technical service team for friendly expert advice.

For your convenience all the DoP information on our range of lintels for UKCA or CE marking can be found here.