TÜV Rheinland Issues First UKCA Certificate for Schmersal

Market access in the UK: Schmersal Group receives certificate for solenoid interlocks / transition period for the UK market ends in 2022 / further information at www.tuv.com/ukca

TÜV Rheinland, as an officially recognized testing body by the British Government Office for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy BEIS, has issued the first certificate for testing the AZ300, AZM300 and AZM300-AS solenoid interlocks of the manufacturer Schmersal in accordance with UKCA requirements.

UKCA stands for United Kingdom Conformity Assessment. Since the official Brexit, this new marking is required on products sold in England, Wales and Scotland. The UKCA mark thus replaces the CE mark of the EU single market, which is currently accepted for product approval in the UK market until the end of 2022. “We were very aware that the UK market is significant for many of our customers and that we, as a testing body, need to provide fast and straightforward support in terms of the latest regulatory requirements here,” said Thomas Steffens, Head of the Functional Safety & Cybersecurity Testing and Certification Body at TÜV Rheinland Industrie Service GmbH.

For more than 20 years, TÜV Rheinland has been testing safety switchgear and systems for the internationally active Schmersal Group, headquartered in Wuppertal, Germany. For product manufacturers, UKCA certification involves a significant amount of additional work. Together with the Schmersal team, TÜV Rheinland was able to successfully implement the recognition process and the conformity assessment for UKCA certification of the AZ300, AZM300 and AZM300-AS solenoid interlocks in a timely manner.

Following the successful pilot project with the AZM300 solenoid interlock, Schmersal will now systematically have other products certified according to UKCA: first the solenoid interlocks of other series and then also electronic safety switches, safety relay modules and safety light grids. “Our aim is to equip Schmersal’s most common and most frequently requested products with the UKCA certificate by January 1, 2023, so that our customers can place their machines on the market in the UK in compliance with the directive,” says Jörg Eisold, Head of Testing, Standards Bodies and Association Work at the Schmersal Group. “Given our extensive product range, this is an ambitious schedule. But we hope that we can achieve this goal with the support of all third-party bodies involved in the certification process. The good experience we had with TÜV Rheinland during the AZM300 pilot project makes us very optimistic.”

Thomas Steffens of TÜV Rheinland adds, “As a testing body, we know how difficult it often is for manufacturers to develop custom-fit market access solutions that take conformity requirements into account.” Since September 2021, TÜV Rheinland has been an “Approved Body” for, among other things, the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 and can thus carry out UKCA certification for manufacturers of safety products in accordance with Annex IV of the Machinery Directive, thus supporting access to the UK market.

Further information at www.tuv.com/ukca at TÜV Rheinland.