A conundrum facing the government:
Under current guidance, it is not clear whether CE marked goods will still be accepted in the UK from January 1st next year.
Under current guidance, it is not clear whether CE marked goods will still be accepted in the UK from January 1st next year.
Under previous no deal guidance, this was to happen for a time limited period of time. But this guidance has been withdrawn.
gov.uk/guidance/prepa…
gov.uk/guidance/prepa…
Many people, including me, believe that similar measures (allowing for CE marked goods to continue to be accepted in the UK) will be reintroduced. This is because businesses are simply not prepared for the switch, and there is still no real clarity on the replacement.
However, UK cannot say this publicly yet because in its negotiations with the EU it is proposing ambitious provisions on mutual recognition of conformity assessment. And it is felt that openly stating UK will accept European standards anyway will weaken UK's negotiating position
Which means, in the meantime, businesses are left in a state of limbo, unable to properly prepare, and hoping for easements that will probably only be announced very late in the day.
There is also a Northern Ireland dimension to this. CE marked goods will continue to be accepted in Northern Ireland regardless. And of course there will be no controls (as per UK commitments) on NI sales to GB.
So anyway, what I'm saying is that while everyone knows that the UK will most probably continue to accept European standards and CE marking for a period of time (I'd wager indefinitely), the government can't actually publicly acknowledge this yet because of the negotiation.
