add cost and complexity<\/a> for all firms, domestic or foreign, that ship products to customers in both the UK and Europe.<\/p>\nJames Talman, chief executive of trade body the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), said: \u201cAt a time when we are facing some of the worst material availability and inflation in living memory, this announcement will come as a welcome relief for manufacturers and merchants.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that NFRC and other bodies have been advising the government \u201cfor some time\u201d that its 1 January 2022 deadline was too tight and that many product providers would be unable to meet the deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am glad that the message has now got through,\u201d Talman said. \u201cThis extra time will provide much-needed breathing space for suppliers to undertake the necessary tests and acquire the correct paperwork. The government should now work with industry to ensure the supply chain is fully prepared for the new 2023 deadline, particularly smaller firms, so we do not face similar problems in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Builders Merchants Federation chief executive John Newcomb warned that a one-year delay was unlikely to solve underlying issues: \u201cThere are currently not enough approved companies or qualified people to conduct the huge number of assessments and certifications required, and the extension does nothing to nurture what limited testing capacity and capability there is within Great Britain. We would like to see more support for a home testing market.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Construction Products Association (CPA) welcomed the delay but also highlighted the complexity of bringing in a new certification system across a vast array of products. \u201cWith limited existing testing capacity and a crush of domestic and international businesses trying to get their products onto the UK market, adapting to a new testing and certification regime for construction products was always ambitious,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
They also warned that the reprieve may not be sufficient: \u201cWe are not, in fact, wholly convinced that one year will be enough time to address all the challenges at hand, but we are cautiously optimistic and will work closely with government to monitor the progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CPA noted that an effective conformance process is vital to building safety as well as product performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government has delayed post-Brexit changes to the certification of construction products by one year, easing fears that the planned schedule would worsen current shortages of key building materials. Following the UK\u2019s departure from the EU at the start of this year, the government had planned to halt recognition of the European CE marking of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84992,"featured_media":442958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[564,565,57171],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n