The most repeated claim about UKCA is wrong. CE marking is accepted in Great Britain indefinitely — the date circulating online is about where you put a label, not whether CE is recognised.
Almost every week we are asked some version of the same question: we have to move off CE marking for the UK by the end of 2027, don't we?
No. And the confusion is costing businesses money in conformity assessment they do not need.
What the law actually says
The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024 came into force on 1 October 2024. They extended recognition of EU requirements — CE marking among them — across 21 product regulations, and they did so with no end date. Current UK government guidance continues to state that Great Britain recognises the CE marking alongside or in place of UKCA.
That covers the instruments most electrical and electronic products live under: electrical equipment safety, electromagnetic compatibility, radio equipment, machinery, toys, pressure equipment, personal protective equipment, gas appliances, ecodesign and RoHS.
UKCA has not been abolished. It remains a perfectly valid route. What changed is that it is no longer the only route, and there is no deadline forcing you onto it.
So what is the 31 December 2027 date?
It is a pair of labelling easements, and it has nothing to do with whether CE is recognised. Until that date you may:
- apply the UKCA marking to a label affixed to the product or to an accompanying document, rather than to the product itself; and
- for goods imported from the EEA, give importer details somewhere other than on the product.
Those allowances expire. CE recognition does not. Conflating the two is the single most common error in secondary commentary on this subject, and we have seen it repeated by consultants, freight forwarders and at least one certification body's marketing.
Where the carve-outs are
The 2024 regulations do not cover everything. Sector regimes sit outside them and must be checked individually — medical devices, construction products, marine equipment, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and unmanned aircraft.
Construction products have their own position: CE recognition there was confirmed as indefinite by ministerial statement in September 2024. Medical devices are the opposite — CE acceptance there is time-limited, and the MHRA opened a consultation in February 2026 on making it indefinite. That has not been legislated. If you supply medical devices to Great Britain, do not read this article as applying to you.
What still has to change for Great Britain
Here is the part that gets missed while everyone argues about marking. An EU technical file does not make you compliant in Great Britain on its own. You still need:
- a GB-established economic operator — an importer or an appointed authorised representative — with a contactable UK address on the product. An EU authorised representative does not satisfy this.
- a PSTI statement of compliance if the product is a consumer connectable product. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure regime has been in force since April 2024, applies regardless of wireless protocol, and applies to CE-marked goods too. EU RED cybersecurity compliance does not discharge it.
- an approved BS 1363 fused plug for mains-powered domestic goods. A travel adaptor is not compliance.
- producer registrations — WEEE, batteries, packaging extended producer responsibility. These are separate from marking and are frequently overlooked precisely because they do not appear on the product.
If you use the UKCA route rather than CE, you also need a separate UK Declaration of Conformity citing the GB regulations and the designated standards — and those lists are maintained separately from the EU harmonised standards list and can lag it.
The practical position
For most electrical and electronic products going into Great Britain today, the sensible answer is to keep the CE route, put a GB economic operator on the label, deal with PSTI if the product connects, fit the right plug, and register as a producer. That is materially cheaper than a parallel UKCA programme, and it is lawful.
One caveat worth stating plainly: CE recognition rests on secondary legislation, not on a treaty. It could be changed. The government has indicated a minimum transition period if it were, and the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 created powers that could be used in either direction. We watch it. But planning today around a 2027 cliff that does not exist is the wrong response.
This article states the position as at 9 September 2026. Regulatory requirements change, and it is general information rather than advice on a specific product. We confirm the instrument and the standard edition in force at the time of each project.