2023-08-03 17:05:00
British manufacturers convinced the government to let them affix the European Conformity (CE) logo to their products indefinitely. Another notch in the mind of Brexit.
By 2024 at the latest, UK companies were supposed to put on their products le logo UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed), replacing the famous CE. Problem: this conformity should not be valid only in UK.
After years of pressure, the government finally agreed to allow companies to do not change anything in the labeling to which they are subjected for decadeswhile also affixing, if they wish, the UKCA logo.
The British Chambers of Commerce and various bodies had been campaigning for years to allow businesses to retain this logo, to avoid additional administrative burden and disadvantage at European level.
“By extending CE certification across the UK, companies can focus their time and money to job creation and economic growth”, welcomed the Business Minister Kevin HollinrakeIn a turn of phrase leading to believe, wrongly, that this authorization is a post-Brexit advance. This only does maintain the status quo of a regulatory framework that has been in place for decades.
Not a surprise
The UKCA label was one of the attributes of Brexit and it is therefore another defeat for the Brexiters, who have lost almost all their influence since Rishi Sunak came to power last November.
This decision is a new step in the rapprochement between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and will also be to the advantage of European companies that would be tempted to open a subsidiary or strengthen their branch across the Channel.
At the end of last year, the government had postponed this entry into force for the third time.
The issue of standards was central to the Brexit process, and still is to a certain extent for food products transiting through Northern Ireland.
This abandonment of a very symbolic measure of the spirit of Brexit, but strongly opposed by the bossesis not a surprise… The British Chambers of Commerce and various organizations were campaign for years to allow companies to keep this logo, in order to avoid additional administrative burden and not not be disadvantaged at European level.
The UKCA label would inevitably lead to increased material costs, bureaucracy and bottlenecks for the majority of manufacturers, with a definite impact on their competitiveness on the export market to the EU. The chief executive of lobby group Make UK, Stephen Phipson, said the move was a simple form of “common sense”.
Benefit to European companies
This decision is a new step in the rapprochement between the United Kingdom and the European Unionand will also be to the advantage of European companies that would be tempted to open a subsidiary or strengthen their branch across the Channel.
The change of course occurred at the time of the signing of Windsor frameworkin February, four months following the arrival of Rishi Sunak at Number 10. This one brought a certain number of solutions on the most opaque points of the withdrawal agreement concluded in 2019, especially regarding the Northern Irish border. The issue of standards was central to the Brexit process, and still is to a certain extent for food products transiting through Northern Ireland.
This development also occurs one month following the third EU-UK Parliamentary Assemblyin Brussels, which brought together 35 MEPs and 35 British MPs.
The memorandum signed at the beginning of the summer between the European Commission and the United Kingdom for better cooperation between the EU and the City on all financial issues, attests to this desire to find points of agreement.
The last major merger project concerns the European Horizon research programin which British scientists can no longer participate since the British exit from the Union, in January 2021.
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