The leader of the Construction Products Association (CPA) has welcomed the government’s decision last week to continue recognising CE marking until 30 June 2025. Prior to this, the government had planned to scrap the European system by the end of the year in favour of its own regime, the UKCA mark, which goes live in January 2023. But the lack of UK testing labs could have meant a significant delay in gaining approvals.
Peter Caplehorn, the CPA’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased to have avoided the potentially catastrophic situation that was unfolding. Still, while this avoids a potential cliff edge, there are many business-critical problems that need to be resolved. We are keen to continue engaging closely with government and industry to resolve problems as quickly as possible, particularly the practical and commercial factors that are needed to ensure smooth market conditions.”
Rico Wojtulewicz, the National Federation of Builders’ housing and planning head, added: “We don’t have the testing facilities to deliver the UKCA mark. It’s totally incoherent that we can’t use both the CE and UK marks in tandem; that would give us enough time to scale up testing capability.”
