Steve Schofield, director and CEO of BPMA
The British Pump Manufacturers’ Association (BPMA), through its membership of the EURIS task force, has received reassurance from the Government that UK Notified Bodies can continue to provide conformity assessment for EU legislation after 29th March 2019 during the Brexit transition (implementation) period.
A parliamentary question was recently drafted and posed by Lord Kinnoull (EU Committee and EU Justice Sub-Committee), to which there was a reassuring response from Lord Henley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), as detailed below:
The Question Posed:
Her Majesty’s Government was asked whether UK Notified Bodies will be able to continue to work with UK manufacturers, checking that their products conform to the essential requirements of European Directives which have been transposed into UK Law, until the end of the anticipated Brexit implementation period.
The Answer Given:
The Government recognises the valuable work undertaken by UK Notified Bodies in ensuring that products placed on the market have been through suitable assessment to ensure that they comply with the relevant requirements. During the implementation period the UK will no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access will continue on current terms.
For UK Notified Bodies this means that they will continue to be able to conduct third-party conformity assessments for both the UK and the EU markets as they do now.
The written question was issued on 12th June and was duly answered on 20th June. The exchange can be viewed online at: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2018-06-12/HL8559/
Additionally, the following statement, which can be found on the UKAS website, further underlines this commitment – The agreement of the implementation period also provides certainty that the work of UK Notified Bodies will continue to be recognised during this time – https://www.ukas.com/customer-area/ukas-and-brexit/
Commenting on this development, Steve Schofield, Director and CEO of BPMA said, “This assurance is most welcome, and serves to remove some concerns that manufacturing organisations such as ours have in relation to certification and compliance matters. However, we still call upon the UK Government to offer a definitive and workable solution for product conformity in the post Brexit era, something which is essential if our manufacturing sectors are to flourish.”