CE Marking Steel
What do I need to know?
At the moment, lots of manufacturers are enquring about how to transition from CE to UKCA marking (United Kingdom Conformity Assessment). Firstly, the date to remember is 1st January 2022. After this date, steel marking and construction products will no longer be acceptable and UKCA marks must be applied. Our blog about Brexit’s effect on this explains this in further detail.
Drop us your details and we can help
If you’re looking for information on CE marking for steel & construction products, please drop your name, number or email below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Bluedice Solutions’s expert team will get in touch and talk through your requirements.
What's the process for steel CE marking?
To be able to apply the UKCA mark to your steel products, you follow the same principles as for CE marking. Essentially, you will need to demonstrate compliance with EN1090-1 ‘Execution of steel and Aluminium structures.‘ This means you need to:
- Think about what kind of structures you are likely to get involved with E.g. Agricultural, Commercial Buildings or more complex metal structures. You’ll need to have a clear idea of this because it determines the entire approach to certification.
- Draft and implement a document that controls the way the steel structural design process is carried out.
- Ensure your welders are ‘coded’ for the structural welds that they perform
- Nominate and train a ‘Welding Co-ordinator’ to oversee the welding and fabrication processes within the factory
- Draft and implement a ‘Factory Production Control’ Manual to describe and control factory operations and ensure you meet the standard.
- Engage a UK-based ‘Approved Certification Body’ to conduct a factory assessment. They can then confirm you have completed the above. You can drop us a message using the form above and we can provide even more guidance on construction products regulation.
What's the process for CE marking Steel?
Once the assessment is completed successfully, you will receive a Certificate of Factory Production Control. This will allow you to create a ‘Declaration Of Performance’ and issue the UKCA mark to your customers.
If you already have CE mark certification and your main market is in Great Britain then you will need to convert this into a UKCA. The main thing to remember is that the certification body that issues the new UKCA certificate must be based in the UK. European-based ‘notified bodies’ cannot issue this certification. We advise that you talk to your current CE certification body and ask if they have a solution.
For markets including Northern Ireland, you have 2 options:
- If you already have a certificate issued by a notified body that is still in the EU, then that will remain valid for the foreseeable future.
- If your certificate was issued by a body in the UK, then confusingly, you can still use it. However, you apply the CE mark in conjunction with a special UKNI mark.
If this is already making your head spin, or you are unsure about how to go about this in practice, just drop us a note below and we can help!
FAQ's
In the consturction and steel commnunity, there are 5 important harmonised standards that support with CE marking. For example, BS EN 1090-1 is the standard for fabricated steelwork.
The most important thing is that manufacturers, suppliers and importers are familiar with the construction products regulation and understand their responsibilities as manufacturers of steel.
On the 1st of January 2021, the new UKCA mark was introduced, requiring manufactures in England, Scotland and Wales to mark their products using new regulations. However, for businesses to adjust to the new requirements, in most cases you will still be able to use the CE marking until 1 January 2023. Essentially, the CE mark and UKCA mark are the same thing!
It is important to note that certification marks differ from collective trade marks.
It stands for Conformité Européen, which translates to European Confirmity.
It is a declaration to show that one’s product conforms to the necessary requirements of health, safety and environmental legislation. Once a product has a CE mark, it is able to move freely on the EU and UK market
There are a number of questions you need to ask yourself to answer this question.
One of the main questions is: What countries do I want to introduce my product(s) to? If the answer is countries within the European Economic Area , you will require the CE marking.
Note that products sold in the following industries do not need CE marking:
- Cosmetics
- Foodstuffs
- Chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals.
One of the common areas of confusion is when CE marking actually applies. You need to quickly understand if a product is being made available on the market or being put in to service or use.
Get in touch with us to find out if your product needs CE marking; dpayne@bluedicesolutions.co.uk