Brexit technical support
The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020. The UK-EU withdrawal agreement, provided a transition period that ended on 31 December 2020.
On the 1st January 2021 the UK started to operate under its own laws. The majority of the existing specific EU directives are now replaced by revised UK regulations. Any EU specific statements and content have been removed and replaced with UK equivalent wording.
After the 1st January 2021, amendments made to EU legislation by the EU will not automatically apply to the UK and the UK can make its own amendments and adjustments.
IQS hope that initially, UK Enforcement Authorities will be sensible in their approach to conformance issues that arise from any slight variations arising from these changes to UK legislation. However, it is important to understand what the deviations may be and IQS can help companies understand where these may occur.
Goods for the UK will have to be placed on the market in the UK to get recognition of their legal status by UK Enforcement. As placing on the market of product in EU countries is no longer considered to be “placed on the market” for the UK and vice versa, goods placed on the market in the UK would not satisfy the EU.
Trade with the EU for UK companies may become a bit more complicated. They will need to keep up to date with EU specific requirements as they develop and be aware that EU requirements may drift away from UK compliance requirements.
IQS support our clients, as we track UK and EU legislation updates for various product types. As well as explain additional labelling requirements for those products that were covered by CE marking directive.
IQS will also be following some of the important Global standards, updates and requirements, for companies considering supplying new markets under the new UK Free Trade Agreements.
Authorised representative explained
The EU Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/ EC and the UK Toy (Safety) Regulations No 1881 2011 defined the obligations of the 4 economic operators:
Manufacturers, importers, distributors and authorised representative.
Authorised representatives’ obligations explained
The manufacturer may appoint by written mandate a person established in the EU or UK as appropriate, as an authorised representative to act on their behalf in relation to certain aspects of the regulations.
The mandate must include the requirement to keep the technical documentation and the Declaration of Conformity for 10 years.
The obligation to bring non-conforming toys into compliance and tell authorities if there is a safety risk and the requirement to identify the other economic operators in the supply chain. It cannot include drawing up technical documentation. The manufacturer retains responsibility for the performance of its authorised representative.
As the Brexit details unfolds
UK-based authorised representatives are now not recognised under EU law. This means they cannot carry out tasks on the manufacturer’s behalf for products being placed on the EU market. Therefore, a manufacturer exporting products to the EU, who wishes to appoint an authorised representative to carry out tasks for them in respect of those products, must appoint an authorised representative based in the EU.
IQS can provide helpful recommendations and advise on how to do this.
For EU clients supplying the UK, the role of the authorised representative has changed.
EU companies that require a Authorised Representative for their UK supplied product, the Authorised Representative needs be established in the UK. This representative acts on behalf of a manufacturer established outside the UK in relation to the manufacturer’s obligations mentioned above.
IQS are able to provide these services for EU clients as well as for international clients. If interested please contact us about our Authorised Representative Mandate.