Category: United Kingdom

Personal protective equipment sold in the United Kingdom should comply with various regulations, safety standards, and other requirements. Non-compliant PPE may not adequately protect the user – for instance, helmets that break easily may not protect motorcyclists and construction workers from head injuries, which may lead to severe injuries.

In this guide, we explain how regulations such as the Personal Protective Equipment Regulation (EU) 2016/425 and the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 apply to personal protective equipment sold in the United Kingdom.

Note: This article does not cover requirements for Northern Ireland, which is generally aligned with EU product safety requirements.
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The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 requires that products are safe for use before they are sold to consumers in the United Kingdom. To achieve this, companies must ensure that their products meet certain safety standards and are correctly labelled, documented, and tested.

In this guide, we take a closer look at the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and how it practically impacts companies selling consumer products in the United Kingdom.

Note that this guide only covers the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 in the UK, which is based on the EU GPSD. This is not to be confused with the more recent EU GPSR from 2024.

Note: This article does not cover requirements for Northern Ireland, which is generally aligned with EU product safety requirements.
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Children’s products sold in the United Kingdom are subject to safety standards, labelling, documentation, and testing requirements. This is the case both for toys and other children’s products, such as high chairs, strollers, cribs, baby carriers, and drinking bottles.

In this guide, we take a closer look at regulations that are highly relevant to children’s products, such as the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, the Toys (Safety) Regulations, and the UK REACH regulation.

Note: This article does not cover requirements for Northern Ireland, which is generally aligned with EU product safety requirements.

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There has been a lot of confusion about the future status of CE marking in the United Kingdom since Brexit. In its place, products were supposed to be marked with the UKCA symbol.

However, the UK has since changed course and decided to accept CE marking for certain product types. This can simplify the product compliance process, as the implication is that a CE marked product could be sold in both the UK and the EU.

In this guide, we explain which products can be CE marked in the UK, and how CE marking differs from UKCA marking.

Continue reading CE Marking Requirements in the United Kingdom: An Overview

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) extends a producer’s financial and operational responsibility regarding packaging and packed goods past the post-consumer stage. In practical terms, this means that UK importers and manufacturers may need to pay for the collection and disposal of packaging waste generated from sales.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements also cover registration, collection, and reporting – and labelling of the packaging.

In this guide, we explain EPR requirements in detail and provide information on a few EPR compliance scheme companies, which can help you to comply with the requirements.
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The UKCA mark is essentially a replacement for the CE mark in the United Kingdom, in the years after Brexit. While not all products require a UKCA mark, the mark is mandatory for those products that are covered by one or more regulations with UKCA marking as a requirement.

In this guide, we explain which regulations require a UKCA mark, how it compares to the CE mark, and the requirements concerning the placement of the UKCA mark on the products and the packaging.

Continue reading UKCA Marking Guide for Importers and Manufacturers