UKCA marking
The mechanics: what the mark must look like, where it may go, whether anybody has to certify anything, and the newer route that removes the duplicate-work problem.
If your question is whether CE is still accepted: it is, in Great Britain, with no end date. The 2027 date you may have seen governs where the UKCA mark may be placed, not whether CE works. That question in full.
How the mark itself must look
This is the part most often got wrong, because it is specified and people assume it is a matter of taste.
- In its standard, recognisable form — not redrawn, not restyled.
- Scaled proportionately against the downloadable templates if it is reduced or enlarged.
- At least 5 mm in height, unless a different minimum is specified in the legislation for that product.
- Easily visible, legible and indelible.
Where the product is too small to carry it, the legislation may allow the marking on the data plate, the packaging, a label affixed to the product, or accompanying documentation. Check the regulations for your sector rather than assuming the general rule.
Where it may be placed, and the date attached to that
This is the 2027 date people confuse with the CE question. It governs placement, and nothing else.
- Legislation in force allows the UKCA marking on a label affixed to the product, or on a document accompanying it, until 11pm on 31 December 2027.
- A manufacturer may place it on the product itself at any time instead.
- There is also a voluntary option to apply the UKCA marking, manufacturer details and importer details digitally.
None of this affects whether CE is accepted in Great Britain. It is, indefinitely — a separate question answered on the compliance page.
Certification, or self-declaration?
'UKCA certified' is a phrase used loosely. For a great deal of electrical equipment there is no certificate and no third party at all.
- Under certain UK legislation the manufacturer self-declares conformity — no conformity assessment body is involved.
- EMC and Low Voltage conformity assessment for equipment of this class is Module A, internal production control. That is a self-declaration route.
- Either way a UK Declaration of Conformity must be drawn up, by the manufacturer or an authorised representative.
- An importer must retain a copy of the declaration for 10 years after the product is placed on the market.
Because the usual route involves no notified body, a manufacturer of this kind of equipment never triggers the UKNI marking either — that only applies where a Northern Ireland placement relies on a UK conformity assessment body.
Fast-Track UKCA — the route most compliance pages have not caught up with
An optional alternative that removes the duplicate-work argument against UKCA entirely, and it is the newest part of this picture.
- Compliance may be demonstrated using either UK essential requirements or recognised EU essential requirements.
- Where several regulations apply to one product, UK and EU conformity procedures may be blended — regulation by regulation.
- Having satisfied the relevant requirements, whether by self-declaration or third-party assessment, the UKCA marking may be applied automatically.
This is why the old framing — 'UKCA means doing the work twice' — is out of date. Existing EU conformity evidence can carry a UKCA mark where the EU requirements are recognised in Great Britain domestic law.
What any of this means for test equipment
Two distinct questions get conflated, and separating them saves a great deal of argument.
- The mark on the instrument. A programmable source or load placed on the GB market carries its own conformity obligation, and this page is about that.
- The equipment used to demonstrate somebody else's conformity. That is a capability question, not a marking one — what the bench must do to produce evidence an assessor accepts.
Suppliers routinely answer the first when a customer asked the second. If you are being asked to prove a product's immunity or supply behaviour, the relevant question is what the standard's test method actually demands of the source.
Where this sits on the rest of the site
Sources
- Placing UKCA or CE marked products on the market in Great Britain · GOV.UK · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Placing manufactured products on the market in Great Britain · GOV.UK · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Fast-Track UKCA: UKCA and CE regimes · GOV.UK · retrieved 2026-09-06
- UKCA implementation guidance (version 2) · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy · retrieved 2026-09-06
This page states rules, not advice. Where a figure matters to a decision, check it against the legislation for your own product sector — the general rule has exceptions and this page says so where it knows of them.
If the question is really about the bench
Most people who reach this page are not asking about a mark on our instrument — they are asking what a source or load has to do to produce evidence somebody will accept. Tell us the standard and the device under test.