Tag Archive: brexit

1. British government postpones mandatory UKCA marking by one year

   26/08/2021 15:24 Comments Off on British government postpones mandatory UKCA marking by one year

   The deadline for mandatory UKCA-marking instead of CE-marking has been postponed from 1st January 2022 to 1st January 2023.

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   As a result of BREXIT, Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) excluded from Regulation 168/2013, will no longer be subject to EU harmonized legislation requiring CE-marking, such as the Machinery, EMC and RoHS Directive. Instead they will become subject to relevant British legislation and compliance will have to be confirmed by means of the British counterpart of the CE-marking, which is the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed)-marking.

   Originally, UKCA marking would definitely replace CE-marking on 1st January 2022. Now the British government has changed its mind and extended the deadline with one more year to 1st January 2023. Until then, companies may continue to apply the CE-marking. However, should they wish they are also allowed to apply the UKCA marking. In any case, it should be one or the other, except for Northern Ireland where it is not allowed to use the UKCA marking. There, the choice is between either the CE-marking or the combination of CE- and UKNI-markings.

   All this concerns LEVs excluded from Regulation 168/2013, such as EPACs, e-scooters, self-balancing vehicles, etc. It has no effect on LEVs falling under the scope of Regulation 168/2013. However, for LEVs excluded from Regulation 168/2013 and classified as medical devices, such as e-bikes with handcranks, certain three- or four-wheelers, etc. the deadline is not 1st January but 1st July 2023.

   Below is the official communication of the UK-governement on their change of mind.

   “Businesses will have an additional year to apply new product safety markings for most products placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales, the government has announced today (24 August).  
   The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking allows the UK to have control over its goods regulations, maintaining the high product safety standards expected in the UK.
   Recognising the impact of the pandemic on businesses, the government will extend this deadline to 1 January 2023 to apply UKCA marks for certain products to demonstrate compliance with product safety regulations, rather than 1 January 2022.
   The UKCA marking replaces the product safety labelling the UK previously used while a member of the EU, such as the CE mark.
   Today’s announcement follows the government’s extensive and ongoing engagement with business groups and reflects the issues businesses have raised, particularly given the impact of the pandemic. Businesses must take action to ensure they are ready to apply UKCA marking by 1 January 2023, the final deadline.
   The government will continue to engage with manufacturers to ensure they understand what they need to do to get ready, including through a new series of webinars.”  

   Photo by Franz Wender on Unsplash

2. UK shifts position on dumping

   09/12/2020 19:11 Comments Off on UK shifts position on dumping

   Although in an earlier statement, the UK Department for International Trade announced its intention to remove the anti-dumping duties on Chinese conventional bicycles, the department has now decided to change that position. Not only the measures on conventional bikes will be upheld, what’s more the measures on electric bikes from China will also be maintained.

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   The Department changed position following the appeal from a very small group of UK based producers. Though very small, their market share was found to be above 1%, enough to change the decision.

   All other questions relating to the impact of Brexit on rules and regulations remain unanswered to date. The UK has left the Commission’s Motorcycle Working Group that confers on the EU type-approval for the L-category including electric cycles. However, that resignation says nothing about the continuation of type-approval rules in UK law after Brexit.

   On the other hand, it was confirmed last week that British experts will continue to work in the CEN working groups for cycles excluded from type-approval and this until December 2021. However, the question as to whether the UK will continue to use the Machinery Directive, as a basis for EU harmonized standards remains unanswered.

3. UK Petition to Increase Speed Limit of 25 km/h E-Bikes

   13/11/2020 13:54 Comments Off on UK Petition to Increase Speed Limit of 25 km/h E-Bikes

   On 1 January 2021, the UK definitely leaves the EU, even though it is still not decided under which terms. For light, electric vehicles, this could mean that the UK decides to deviate from EU law. One petition is already calling for change.

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   With less than 2 months to go for the UK’s final departure from the EU, nothing has been decided yet on LEV-legislation. For a while now, British civil servants are no longer participate in relevant EU discussions. Nevertheless, no-one has a clear idea of what is about to happen. Will the UK simply transfer L-category legislation? Will they stick with the Machinery Directive and the harmonised standards, such as EN 15194? The whole business is eagerly awaiting final answers.

   A few weeks ago, we have announced that the UK is about to end the anti-dumping duties on conventional bikes, but any further news about the anti-dumping on e-bikes is not forthcoming. Nevertheless, the logical path for the UK would be to cancel these as well.

   In the meantime, a petition to increase the speed limit for 25 km/h electric bicycles has been online for some time. The signatories are  asking the British government to consider adjusting this speed limit to be in line with US legislation of 20Mph, i.e. around 32 km/h.

   Further justification for the request is as follows: “Its commonly accepted in the cycling community that the current limit reduces the likelihood that people will swap their car for an electric bike and that the speed difference being so much lower than a car increases the danger presented to cyclists when sharing the road.“
   “Additionally, there are a large number of bikes in the UK that have bypassed or do not conform to the current legislation. Increasing it would prevent much faster bicycles from making their way onto the roads and paths.“

   It is strange that the petition does not include a request to allow for the so-called “twist and go” again. The UK allowed a throttle on an ebike for a very long time, thus breaching EU legislation. The alignment with Regulation 168/2013 happened not that long ago.

   If the petition gets 10,000 signatures, the UK government has to respond to the petition. The counter is currently at 4,235. The petition is here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/332333.

   Photo by Jay Mullings on Unsplash

4. UK to end Anti-Dumping Conventional Bicycles

   19/10/2020 20:44 Comments Off on UK to end Anti-Dumping Conventional Bicycles

   Most questions as to how the Brexit transition will be on 1st January 2021 remain unanswered. Nevertheless, at least one question appears to have been sorted.

   There is still no certainty for instance as to the technical rules that will apply to LEVs in the UK. Another unresolved matter concerns the import and export rates for LEVs and their components between Britain and Europe. But what is certain now is that, on 1st January next year, the UK will no longer apply anti-dumping measures on bicycles from China.

   This decision has been taken despite the fact that UK businesses, which produce bikes had applied for a continuation of the measures. The termination has been based on the fact that the market share of these producers is insufficient to allow for continuation of the dumping duties. There is still a possibility for appeal until 30th October.

   This measure only concerns conventional bicycles. The issue of dumping duties on Chinese e-bikes has not been resolved yet. The termination of duties on conventional bicycles, will also remove the anti-circumvention measures against certain essential bicycle components. That will make life considerably easier for assemblers of electric bikes in the UK. If they want to import those components from China, they will no longer have to apply for end-use authorisation. The question as to what import duties will be applied for bikes and components from China still remains unanswered. Definitely to be continued …

   Photo by Frederick Tubiermont on Unsplash