Can a case carry only UKCA or only CE?

Answer: Both are accepted in Great Britain, but buyers often want both sets. Shipping CE only means mapping each EU directive to its GB equivalent.

How long is the technical file kept?

Answer: 10 years from the last case produced, and you must produce it within 5 working days.

What happens without a UK responsible person?

Answer: The shipment is held at clearance. Appointing one takes 7 to 15 days and port storage is charged daily.

Do reports have to come from a UK lab?

Answer: No. IEC 60529, ISO 2248 and ISO 9227 are international standards, so a lab with CNAS, CMA or UKAS scope is enough.

Can the UKCA and CE declarations be merged?

Answer: They can share a layout, but regulation and standard columns stay separate.

Can a sticker fix a wrong label?

Answer: Yes, if weather resistant and fully covering the old label. Log date and batch. ---

CE and UKCA: Documents for UK Import

Quick answer: UKCA applies in Great Britain since 1 January 2021 and needs 5 documents, including a DoC, a technical file kept 10 years and a UK address.

What UKCA and CE mean in Britain today
The five documents a UK buyer will ask for
Who signs which document
Label elements and the UK responsible person
Four places shipments get held
FAQ

1. What UKCA and CE mean in Britain today

Since 1 January 2021 the GB market, meaning England, Scotland and Wales, has had its own conformity mark. The two marks are not old and new versions of one scheme but parallel evidence chains: CE points to EU directives and harmonised standards, UKCA to the GB regulations transcribed from them. A passive moulded case falls under general product safety rules, so the mark forces three things into a record: a declaration, a technical file and a traceable label.

CE continues in GB on a conditional basis. The government has moved the recognition deadline several times and, after 2023, stated that CE would keep being recognised for most product groups. For any one category the current official notice counts, so hold both document sets and print one mark or both as the buyer requires.

Northern Ireland runs on EU rules. CE or UKNI is accepted there and UKCA is not, so a pallet sent to Belfast and trucked into the Republic with only a UKCA label comes back.

Market	Mark accepted	Common misreading
England, Scotland, Wales	UKCA or CE	CE has been withdrawn
Northern Ireland	CE or UKNI	UKCA covers the whole UK
EU 27	CE	UKCA can replace CE

2. The five documents a UK buyer will ask for

Five documents, no more. The length sits inside each one, and in who can answer for the content.

UKCA technical file photo: a grey protective case on a stainless steel bench, three latches closed, a clear label holder on the front

DoC: one page listing manufacturer name and address, model, applicable regulations, designated standards with years, the signatory and the date. A sales signature does not survive an audit.
Technical file: drawings, polymer grade and supplier, wall thickness, seal and latch specification, batch records, kept 10 years from the last case off the line.
Risk assessment: normal use and foreseeable misuse. Usual entries are handle load, latch pinch, stack slip and aged-gasket ingress.
Test reports: ingress protection to IEC 60529, classes 6 and 7, drop to ISO 2248, salt spray to ISO 9227 for 96 hours, each with lab stamp and sample photos.
UK responsible person: company name, registered address and contact mail for a body established in the UK. Without it the chain is broken.

The DoC is the conclusion, the technical file the evidence, the report the data, the responsible person the address. Buyers open the DoC first and pull the file when something fails.

3. Who signs which document

Signature ownership causes more rejections than content. The same DoC is valid with a technical director's name and worthless with a sales manager's.

Document	Signed by	Retention	Frequent error
DoC	Company officer or technical lead	10 years	Sales signature, no date
Technical file	Engineering, confirmed by its head	10 years	Drawings only, no material proof
Risk assessment	Design or quality lead	10 years	Normal use only, no misuse
Test reports	Lab with CNAS, CMA or UKAS scope	Long term, samples 3 years	Standard revision withdrawn
Label and RP letter	Manufacturer prints, RP issues	With the batch	Mail address, no street address

A lab answers for the samples it received, so the model on the report must match the shipment. Using a report for model A to cover model B is fraud, not a small gap.

4. Label elements and the UK responsible person

The label carries 7 elements: the mark, manufacturer name and address, UK responsible person name and address, model and batch, applicable regulations, year of manufacture, and a note that the DoC is available on request.

UKCA label inside an open black protective case, foam cut into compartments, two holding a screen device and cables, a white sticker on the lid

The responsible person address has to reach street level. A city name or a PO box reads as blank in a customs system, and if it changes, label and letter need updating within 30 days.

Mark proportions are a requirement, not a preference. Letter height is at least 5 mm, scaling stays proportional, and no border, stretch or weight change is allowed. Squeezing a 40 mm mark to 12 mm high still scans, but the distortion shows.

5. Four places shipments get held

Ranked by frequency: RP address, standards column, report revision, mark proportions.

Hold point	What the inspector sees	Fix
No RP address	Factory address only	Reprint or over-label, log the batch
Standards missing	Compliance claimed in general terms	Add numbers and revision years
Report outdated	A withdrawn standard revision	Retest or issue a gap statement
Mark distorted	Stretched or boxed mark	Reprint at the correct ratio

A missing responsible person address comes first. The label shows only the plant, customs has no one to query, and storage charges start the same day.

A DoC without standards is second. A general claim of compliance cannot be checked against anything. An older report keeps its value after a revision only if a gap statement lists which tests cover the new requirements.

Conclusion

Four checks decide whether a batch enters the UK without friction: the DoC carries a signature and a date, the technical file can be produced within 5 working days, the reports cite current revisions, and the label shows a full UK responsible person address. When all four are in place, UKCA and CE become a layout question. When one is missing, the pallet waits at the port and storage charges run daily.

This article covers specifications and design implications on the case side only. It does not address handling, loading or use of anything placed inside.