Placing civil explosives on the GB market

This guidance is about placing civil explosive products on the market in Great Britain (GB). Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland.

There’s different guidance if you’re:

Civil explosives: what it means to place them on the GB market

A civil explosive product is ‘placed on the GB market’ when it is first made available for distribution, consumption or use on the market of Great Britain. This has to be in the course of a commercial activity but can either be in return for payment or free of charge.

A civil explosive product is considered ‘placed on the GB market’ when there’s either a:

  • written agreement to transfer ownership or
  • verbal agreement to transfer ownership

Proving a product was placed on the market

You can provide proof using documents such as:

  • contracts of sale for goods that have been manufactured and meet the legal requirements
  • invoices
  • shipping documents for distribution

It's your responsibility to prove when a product was placed on the market if you're the relevant economic operator. An economic operator may be a manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor.

Conformity marking for different markets

Current legislation allows you to place civil explosive products on the market in Great Britain using either:

  • CE marking
  • UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking

GB market only

If you only place explosives on the GB market, you can use the UK Explosives Approved Body (UKEAB) to have your products tested and use the UKCA marking.

You can place a civil explosive product on the market in GB with the UKCA marking if you:

  1. Demonstrate compliance with the relevant GB essential requirements
  2. Complete the correct GB conformity assessment procedure
  3. Provide a GB declaration of conformity (DoC) in English
  4. Until 31 December 2027 you can apply the UKCA marking either on a label affixed to the product or on a document that accompanies the product. After such time the UKCA will need to be placed on the product itself.
  5. Ensure the product is accompanied by instructions and safety information, written in English, that is clear, legible and easily understood.

GB and EU markets

Alternatively you can make use of the recognition of EU requirements to place civil explosives on the GB market and EU market.

Using CE marking for civil explosive products on the GB market

You can place a civil explosive product on the market in GB with the CE marking if you:

  1. Demonstrate compliance with the relevant EU essential requirements
  2. Complete the correct EU conformity assessment procedure
  3. Provide all required technical documents, including an EU declaration of conformity (DoC) in English and
  4. Apply the CE marking to your product
  5. Ensure the product is accompanied by instructions and safety information, written in English, that is clear, legible and easily understood.

Using UKCA marking to demonstrate compliance with EU requirements

You can also place a civil explosive product on the GB market with a UKCA marking where you have demonstrated compliance with EU essential requirements.

You must:

  • check your product meets EU and GB essential requirements
  • ensure the relevant EU conformity assessments are complete,
  • provide all technical documents in English

If you apply the UKCA marking to your product you will need to ensure that the product is accompanied by a GB declaration of conformity (DoC). The GB DoC must be in English, and lists compliance with the relevant GB or EU legislation that has been met.

If you chose to use UKCA marking on your product, do not apply the EU Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) ID number next to the UKCA marking. Instead, include the EU CAB ID number in the GB declaration of conformity (DoC), which you must supply with the product.

The conformity marking scenarios on GOV.UK show the different conformity assessment markings which manufacturers may use to place goods on the GB market.

You are legally obliged to still attach a CE conformity marking on your product where you are placing your civil explosives on the EU market.

Declaration of conformity

The UK Declaration of Conformity is a document which must be drawn up for civil explosive products lawfully bearing a UKCA marking or CE mark before they are placed on the market. We recommend you have your GB Declaration of Conformity and EU Declaration of Conformity as separate documents.

You must make a declaration of conformity available to market surveillance or enforcement authorities on request. It must:

Placing a product on the GB market from outside the UK

If you’re placing a product on the GB market from outside of the UK, you need to follow the guidance UK importer responsibilities on GOV.UK

The UK Explosive Approved Body

The UK Explosives Approved Body (UKEAB) is responsible for conformity assessing and certifying products for the:

  • UK market and UKCA marking
  • Northern Ireland market and UKNI marking

Businesses can benefit from continued compliance with recognised EU regulations with conformity assessment undertaken by an EU Notified Body.

If in future, EU standards for civil explosives are no longer recognised in GB, manufacturers would need to comply with The Explosives Regulations 2014 (as amended) using only UK conformity assessment bodies to have their civil explosive products conformity assessed for a UKCA mark.

GOV.UK has more guidance on conformity assessment.

Designated standards for civil explosives

A designated standard is a standard, developed by consensus, which is put forward by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and is recognised by government, in part or in full, by publishing its reference on GOV.UK in a formal notice of publication.

On 1 January 2021, all the existing (EU) harmonised standards for civil explosives that gave a presumption of conformity to EU essential safety requirements, became known as GB designated standards. There’s guidance including notices of publication and a consolidated list of designated standards: explosives for civil uses (on GOV.UK).

Currently EU harmonised standards for civil explosives are identical to the equivalent GB designated standard, therefore manufacturers can rely on following harmonised standards to show that their product has met the essential requirements of the EU product legislation, when placing products on the GB market through CE recognition.

The (EU) harmonised standards are the relevant standards if you are placing civil explosives on the Northern Ireland market.

What to do when there are differences between an EU harmonised standard and a GB designated standard

It is your responsibility to check if there is a difference between a GB designated standard for a civil explosive product and an (EU) harmonised standard.

Where this is a difference, it is unlikely that simply following the EU harmonised standard will be sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the relevant essential requirements of the EU product regulation for the purposes of being able to place your civil explosive product on the GB market.

Manufacturers following the harmonised standard, and depending on the difference between the GB and EU standards, will likely need to take additional actions before placing their civil explosive on the GB market. You must provide evidence in the form of technical documentation setting out how you have assessed and adequately protected against the risks of the product against the GB essential safety requirements.

Where specific parts of a GB designated standard have been restricted, manufacturers must be able to demonstrate how their product complies with those particular essential requirements of the GB product legislation before placing the product on the GB market.

A list of GB designated standards explosives for civil uses is on GOV.UK.  

A list of EU harmonised standards in on the EU Commission’s website.

Manufacturers, importers and distributors

Manufacturers need to check whether you or your supplier became an importer after 1 January 2021. You will have become an importer if you're the one bringing goods into the UK from outside the UK and placing them on the market in Great Britain.

For further guidance on importer duties go to UKCA mark: roles and responsibilities on GOV.UK.

Using authorised representatives or a responsible person

If you use an authorised representative or responsible person, they must be based in the UK for explosives being placed on the GB market.

Manufacturers can instruct an authorised representative to:

  • keep declarations of conformity and technical documentation
  • engage with the market surveillance authority and co-operate with the competent authority on any action taken to eliminate risks posed by civil explosives covered in their mandate
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Updated 2025-06-19