Are You Ready For UKCA ‘Ex’?

Published 04 Feb 2021

UKCA MARK

  • Special thanks to Sean Clarke Managing Director at ExVeritas for providing permission to republish the 
following article. See the article in the Jan/Feb issue of Hazardous Engineering Solutions

Now that the UK has left the EU, we all must come to terms with what that means on a practical level. In the ‘Ex’ certification world, there are definite challenges as ATEX will not be accepted in the UK next year. If you want to continue to sell Ex equipment in the UK, you will have to make changes, and these changes may involve getting your equipment certified to the new ‘UKCA’ Scheme.

It is now required that ‘Ex’ electrical products for Zone 0 and 1, non-electrical products for Zone 0, all ‘unit verifications’ and certain safety device will require a certificate from a Government Appointed UKCA Body. A UKCA QAN (Manufacturing Quality Audit) will also be required from a UKCA Body for such certifications. In addition, Zone 1 ‘non-electrical’ equipment will require Files to be lodged with a suitably appointed UKCA Body.

Only Bodies that are listed on the UK Government Website can issue UKCA EX Certificates where that previously required a Notified Body. ExVeritas are one of only about half a dozen companies in the world who are Government Appointed to issue these certificates, so it is going to get very busy.

In many cases the process is quite painless and often only a paperwork exercise, but the UKCA QAN Audit does also have to be conducted before you can manufacture equipment. This will be necessary to apply the UK Appointed Body Number on the label under the UKCA Mark (as it was before with the CE Mark).

It is also worth noting that the UKCA Certification will be issued against the list of UK Government Designated Standards. As it is a new scheme, all products will normally need to be to the latest Standards as published on the UK Government Web Site. I recommend all manufactures who want to remain on the UK ‘Ex’ market start the process immediately.

Sean Clarke is the Group Managing Director at ExVeritas, a UK Government Appointed Body for UKCA Ex Certification, ATEX Notified Body and IECEx Certification Body.

ExVeritas
ExVeritas

World-Class Accredited Certification of Products, People, Systems and Sites

ExVeritas are an ATEX Notified Body and IECEx Certification Body providing internationally recognised product certification for global markets together with the necessary Quality System Certification including issuing UKAS accredited ISO9001:2015. For manufacturing and industrial sites we offer safety consultancy on DSEAR (including area classification, design, installation, inspection and risk assessment) PUWER and PSSR. We also offer accredited training and competence certification for CompEx EXF+, EX01-06, EX11, EX12,and EX14 and API Q1 and Q2 personnel together with specialist and bespoke training.

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