UKCA ruling – good news for consumers but bike industry blasts “waste of time” and loss of influence
The shifting goalposts of UKCA marking have been firmly booted out the field of play (to labour the metaphor) by the Department for Business and Trade after a long-winded and costly saga.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the government intends to extend recognition of CE marking for placing most goods (including cycle-related products) on the market in Great Britain, indefinitely. That move has effectively ended the need for the UKCA mark on cycle goods on sale in GB.
It has taken considerable time to get to this point, with the deadline for implementation of the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark delayed multiple times.
CyclingIndustry.News found that prominent names in the UK cycle trade have welcomed the move, but have also blasted the “considerable resource and investment” that brands put into UKCA certification that was – ultimately, but unforeseeably by the trade – pointless. Madison boss Dominic Langan also pointed out that the move, while positive, consequently means that the UK cycle industry will have no say in future standards, despite having to adhere to them.
Rob Haycock, CEO of ZyroFisher, told CyclingIndustry.News: “CE certification is an important factor to allow the UK to trade with Europe and simplify brands access to our market, otherwise the UK will be left out in the cold. It is good to for business to allow us to be as flexible as possible and reduce confusion for consumers as well.
“One thing we should recognise though is that a number of our brands, including Bell and Giro have put considerable resource and investment into gaining UKCA certification for their helmet range which could have been avoided,” Haycock added.
Madison and Sportline CEO Dominic Langan told us: “Aligning our standards with our biggest market is a no brainer and worked very well for many years. When we were part of the EU we could also influence those standards and I know the Bicycle Association were very influential in ensuring the voice of the UK cycle industry was heard.
“Unfortunately, due to Brexit, we will no longer have any say in future standards but we will have to adhere to them. But that is still preferable to the costs of having to certify to a UKCA and CE standard and it will also benefit importers (and consumers) as brands could have potentially decided not to certify for UKCA if they felt it was not commercially viable or too onerous for them to do so.
“Frustratingly, we did a lot of work, along with our suppliers to hit the first UKCA deadline and even cleared stock which would have not have been compliant which cost us margin. Time, money and productivity wasted. All in all though, I am happy the decision has been made but being gaslighted by the Government that this has been done to help businesses cut through red tape and be competitive is difficult to swallow, given it is them who introduced it without any industry consultation. A waste of time and pure Brexit dogma. Not sure politicians understand there are any other business sectors in the UK other than financial services, which could be where the disconnect occurred.”
If you’d like to add your voice, let us know at jon@cyclingindustry.news
