Hard working colleagues in several business units within Danfoss have been working on a complex and huge co-ordination task to ensure that all relevant products sold in the UK now have the legally required importer contact details. This is a major milestone that was successfully reached before 1st January 2021.
A second sprint is about to begin. A new mark, called UKCA, of minimum 5mm in height needs to be applied for products sold in the UK after 1st January 2022. And from 1st January 2023 the UKCA mark (UK Conformity Assessed) must be on the products, otherwise it will be illegal to sell.
The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is a new UK product marking that is used for goods being placed in the market in Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland). It covers most goods which previously required the CE marking (European certification).
Martin Skov Holm, Head of Product Management, Europe, is the project lead for the Drives segment. His team are looking at the product labelling to find space for the UKCA mark, which is visible below the QR code in the label Martin is holding in the picture.
“It is a challenge to find room along with all the other pieces of information that need to be printed on the product. For us, it is especially on the smaller drives we have limited space. We did the recent sprint during the last couple of months of 2020 with an enormous dedication in the team. So, we did it once, we will do it again,” says Martin.
Applying the UKCA mark implies a cumbersome declaration of conformity process for the relevant product families. “For example, equipment for potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX) and pressure products must be assessed by notified bodies in the UK. For other products self-declarations must be made by Danfoss,” says Thomas Krogh Nielsen, Group Approvals, who is leading this cross-segment project.
The UK is Danfoss’ 10th biggest market and there will be consequences if deadlines are not met, in terms of legal compliance and protecting market share. “The coordination between the segments is important, and we need to make sure we get the right spot in the queue when lining up for the approvals by authorities. We will bring the learnings from the first sprint including applied clear roles and responsibilities,” says Povl Schrøder, Head of Group Regulatory.
The importance of the application of the new UKCA mark for Danfoss business in the UK directly and for all countries selling to the UK is without question. “Preparing Danfoss for Brexit has been a real team effort from people right across the company who have shown tremendous commitment and adaptability as the process has unfolded over the last three years with several cliff-hanger deadlines along the way. Local leaders have played a major role, but this could not have been carried through smoothly without great engagement and support from global logistics, group functions, supply chain and product management in each segment for which we are most grateful” says Marcus Postings, General Manager UK/IE and Head of Strategic Sales & Marketing.
A summary of the compliance requirements is in the table below. Further details are available on the UK Government’s website.
