In a statement to Parliament, Rushanara Ali, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has announced a reform of the construction products regulatory regime, and an extension of the CE quality marking recognition.

Existing construction products regulations set out rules for placing construction products on the market, providing a common technical language to assess the performance of products. Products within scope of these regulations must undergo an assessment of conformity with the relevant standard or technical assessment. Such products must also be affixed with a UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) or a CE (Conformité Européenne) mark. Current government guidance sets out that recognition of CE marking will end in June 2025.

In her statement Ali announced that the government will extend the period of recognition of CE marking for construction products. The CE mark will continue to be available when placing construction products on the market across the UK.

This comes in response to the findings from the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime, which had made it clear that there is currently insufficient testing and certification capacity in the UK alone to provide the volume of conformity assessment that would be required were CE recognition to end. She also confirmed that any subsequent changes to the recognition of CE marking would be subject to a minimum two-year transitional period to ensure certainty and a smooth transition.

Ali also expressed the view that ending recognition of CE marking without reforming the domestic regime would create trade barriers and negatively affect the supply of products that meet recognised standards.

She said she was determined to address the inadequacies across the wider construction products regime. Residents and communities need to be confident that their homes will be safe and well-built now and in the future. To ensure this, the government will want to take into account any recommendations from the forthcoming Grenfell Inquiry report to inform proposals for reform. Therefore, Ali announced that she is making this extension, and the longer-term future of CE/UKCA marking, conditional on a system-wide reform of the construction products regulatory regime.

As part of the reforms the government will work with UK Conformity Assessment Bodies, the UK Accreditation Service, and the wider industry to strengthen the conformity assessment market.