黑洞社区

The boss of an industry trade body has told housing secretary Michael Gove to scrap the new certification regime for construction products and said the plans have 鈥渁bsolutely no benefit鈥�.

Chris Yates, chief executive of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA), said there is a 鈥渓ot of scepticism about the real value鈥� of the UKCA mark, a post-Brexit system which is set to replace the existing Europe-wide CE mark.

鈥淕et rid of it. It鈥檚 doing everything that Brexit was supposed to not do, and that鈥檚 increase costs and increase red tape for industry,鈥� he said.

The comments come amid confusion over whether a two-year delay to the full implementation of the new rules announced by the government this week will apply to construction products.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said on Monday it was pushing back the 1 January 2023 deadline for making the regime mandatory to give businesses the 鈥渇reedom to focus on growth鈥�.

But the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), which is led by Gove and is responsible for how the UKCA system applies to construction products, has said it is taking its own approach and has not yet confirmed a delay.

Under the original timeframe, which had already been pushed back by 12 months, new or updated construction products which had not obtained the UKCA mark would be illegal to sell on the UK market in less than seven weeks鈥� time.

Yates said it is 鈥渄isappointing to say the least鈥� that DLUHC had not coordinated with BEIS, a move which has thrown the sector into confusion.

Tom Garrigan, technical director at the 黑洞社区 Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), said there does not seem to be 鈥渁ny sort of clear communication鈥� between the two government departments.

鈥淏EIS gives a webinar explaining what will happen, and then you don鈥檛 hear anything from DLUHC for two or three months.鈥�

While he described BEIS as being relatively quick in providing guidance, he said the response from DLUHC was often 鈥渞adio silence鈥�. 

The rules previously required thousands of construction products to be retested at UK facilities before the deadline at a cost of up to 拢50,000 per test. 

This had caused considerable anxiety in the industry due to a severe shortage of testing capacity in the UK for some key products, including glass, sealants and radiators.

But the lack of clarity from DLUHC on what the new rules required had resulted in BSRIA ignoring its instructions.

He said BSRIA, which operates the UK鈥檚 only testing facility for radiators, had been told by ministers to expand its capacity but had 鈥渙pted not to because we didn鈥檛 think there was a plan and that鈥檚 transpired to be the case鈥�. The organisation had calculated that testing all radiators on the UK market to the new regime would have taken approximately 64 years.

After business secretary Grant Shapps announced the two-year delay, one chief executive of a major contractor told 黑洞社区: 鈥淐ommon sense has prevailed. The focus must be on where value can be added through a change, rather than a focus on a wholesale change.鈥�

Former chief Brexit negotiator David Frost also welcomed the move, calling it a 鈥渧ery sensible decision鈥�. 

Frost, an influential figure in the Brexit-supporting wing of the Conservative party, said there 鈥渋s no reason at all, and never has been, why we should not continue to accept EU-approved good in most areas for a long time to come鈥�.