The post-Brexit move from CE marking to UKCA marking that was to to have taken place from the start of next year has been put back to June 2025 because nobody is ready for the change.

UKCA stands for UK conformity assessed. CE stands for the French Conformitè Europëenne.

Even CE marking has never been particularly popular in the stone industry, in spite of it being a legal requirement for products such as paving, flooring and cladding. Many companies have simply ignored it, although it should be included on all products that should conform to European standards and can be specified to those standards. 

Many of the standards were adopted as British Standards available from the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the UK.

Selling British products in Europe will still require them to be CE marked, adding to the already increased red tape faced by businesses as a result of Brexit.

To use the UKCA mark, businesses must ensure they are using a UK approved body for testing and certification for all products supplied to the British market that are covered by a designated standard or conform to a UK technical assessment issued for that product.

If you want to try to make sense of the proposed changes you can start on the gov.uk webite here.

In Northern Ireland, and for goods supplied to Britain from Northern Ireland, there are separate requirements to avoid creating a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. For more about that, click here.