Habitat manufacturer Cunningham, share some thoughts on Brexit.
ATEX Notified Body Certification
As Cunningham Covers are ATEX registered for their Safezone Pressurised Habitat System it’s important that we announce and make existing and new customers aware of the situation and possible scenarios.
ATEX is an EU Directive and as such is controlled by Europe.
If the UK and EU agree an exit deal, then there will be no change to the certification. There is a buffer period to at least December 2020 for all notifying bodies as such this will mean that Cunningham and SafeZone will have at least up until then to put a plan in place and all the UK Notified Body’s (NB) status will remain during the transition.
No Deal Option
If however, there is a ‘no-deal‘ exit from the EU. The notifying bodies would then be unable to issue any ATEX certificates from the UK. We currently have a plan in place to retain and hold our certification with our notifying body and would be issued from a subsidiary department within the notifying body that is currently in Europe.
If this was to happen then all certification would still be valid and there would be no cost passed on to our customers. We would manage this internally, certification numbers would not change.
We will need to issue new product name plates for the products and this will be issued in due course to our current customers who are operating SafeZone.
It’s worth noting that if a ‘no-deal’ exit from the EU was to take place that there would be a short period of time when CE marked products would not be allowed to be imported into the UK. At the end of this period of time CE marking would become invalid, and products destined for the UK would have to carry a ‘UK Authorised Body’ mark. We are assessing the situation and working with our notifying body should we have to apply for an additional UK CE mark.
It’s under control
As with any regulation, certification, law change or requirement required for any region or state that SafeZone operates in. We will be working with local government, notifying bodies or industry bodies to ensure that SafeZone is certificated and tested for use. We are in close talks with local government and the bodies who are helping to set the standards for the UK. At this time the Cunningham Management team would like to assure customers that there will be no impact on their business due to the Brexit negotiations and talks. We’re doing everything within our power to ensure that we are as prepared as possible. In the unlikely event that something should arise from Government with regards to the legislation. We would like to ensure our current customers and new customers that we are working quickly and effectively to ensure no impact happens to business.
At all times Cunningham will ensure that they operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and SafeZone is compliant with UK Law and applicable laws.
