UK Conformity Assessed Marking Update

After leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom set up a UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking system for the sale of products within the country – generating difficulties for manufacturers exporting to the UK. The date at which this law is to come into force has been postponed until January 1, 2023, however, the race to certify products in accordance with UKCA standards has begun.

CertDolomiti, a member of The Vision Council, has announced it is now an officially accredited firm. CertDolomiti is the new Certottica and Dolomiticert company set up to support Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers in their post-Brexit sales.

More about CertDolomiti Ltd.

CertDolomiti Ltd. is a newco formed from the two Longarone based firms and based in Bristol and has passed the accreditation process performed by UKAS, the “approved body” accreditation institution and it is published, with accreditation number 8503, in the “approved Body” list by BEIS (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy).

The following is an interview detailing the importance of the accreditation with Luca Businaro, CertDolomiti president, member of the Certottica board of directors as the representative of Belluno province, CEO of Novation Tech and Confindustria arbitrator. For more information on CertDolomiti, visit www.certdolomiti.com.

Dr. Businaro, what was behind the need to set up CertDolomiti?

CertDolomiti was born from market evolution and ongoing research—characteristic of Certottica and Dolomiticert—designed to improve and, first and foremost, anticipate the services offered to clients. Having taken on board the impact of Brexit and its direct consequences for product certification, the two firms came up with the idea of setting up a UK company right away, to provide services ahead of its potential rivals.

What is the scope of the firm's action?

In the first analysis to assist firms with UK export markets. From January 1, 2023 all products requiring certification will need double certification: alongside CE certification requirements, doing business in the UK will also require UKCA certification. There are no Italian institutes able to do this and we set up CertDolomiti to fulfil exactly this need, offering dual certification and giving firms a single point of reference: the group can fulfil CE and UKPA marking needs in the context of sports and workplace safety from clothing to footwear and eyewear.

As compared to British bodies, what answers can a firm like CertDolomiti give businesses?

We are an Italian firm with totally different elasticity and flexibility in our approach to the market. The primary export market is the UK, not vice versa, and we can thus assist firms exporting to the UK. We are not a local body certifying for sale outside the UK. We work in the opposite direction to British bodies and thus have a twofold advantage.

Do you think that further legal adjustments will be needed to satisfy the demands of firms? I’m thinking of developments in the Far East and Russia, for example.

The product certification market is certainly a constantly evolving one and a sort of protectionism is growing, in particular from non-European countries to seek to facilitate local and national firms in their competition with foreign firms exporting to countries like Russia and the Far East. I don’t think these will go as far as what has happened in the UK, where the British people and its politicians have opted to nationalise everything and dual certification is the example closest to hand. Russia and the Far East have international negotiations at stake which they have to keep moving because there is a great deal of trade between countries in terms of both imports and exports and thus putting up barriers such as the UK dual certification may well have negative fallout for local firms.

What is your advice to firms?

My advice is to take advantage of this step forward by the Certottica-Dolomiticert group: CertDolomiti is the only firm-laboratory in Italy with the capacity to issue dual certifications and do it ‘in house’. We already have a number of accreditation certificates covering all product uses to some extent and thus have a competitive advantage which firms continuing to innovate and export to the UK will notice.

It is crucial we don’t miss this boat. We can get anyone who wants to on board and take you to the UK.