A letter from the BMTA President outlining some of the possible outcomes of the EU Referendum that may have an impact of the measurement and testing industry in the UK

1. BMTA Position paper on BREXIT
To all BMTA members,
The vote to leave the European Union (EU) has caused considerable uncertainty for businesses
which may be affecting your company or laboratory. BMTA intends to produce a position paper on
the implications of ‘Brexit’ for the measurement and testing (M &T) industry for use as a basis of
discussion with government officials tasked with negotiating the exit terms. We consider it vital that
the voice of the M & T industry is heard and is not overlooked.
In order to produce a position paper Council will need to know and understand members’ concerns
about how their company or laboratory may be affected and what they can do about it. Council at its
meeting on 4 July therefore decided on the following course of action:
1. To invite members to email their concerns about Brexit to the BMTA Secretariat by the end
of July.
2. To hold a ‘low cost’ discussion meeting/workshop on members’ concerns in September
3. To use the outputs of 1 and 2 to draft a position paper.
It is already clear that not much is going to change in the near future. UKAS is saying ‘business as
usual’ on its website and BSI has issued a similar statement on its website. BSI has reminded its
customers that it is part of CEN /CENELEC neither of which are EU funded. There will be little change
for companies and laboratories until the government has invoked Article 50 (about leaving the EU)
of the EU Treaty and the terms of leaving have been agreed. At the moment it is thought that
negotiations will take at least 2 years to complete.
In the longer term there might be some quite profound changes for companies and laboratories. The
factors of relevance to the M &T industry include;
 The extent to which the UK remains in the Single Market or moves to the ‘WTO only’ basis of
trading with the EU, leaving the Single Market altogether.
 Whether the ‘New Approach’ Directives (which govern CE marking amongst other things)
remain in force in the UK.
 What arrangements will be required for market surveillance, Notified Bodies and consumer
product testing.
 What Directives and EU Regulations controlling environmental protection, health (and
safety) and food will remain in force and if not, what will replace them. What measurement
and testing will be needed and what will be the arrangements for it.
 The extent to which free movement of labour into the UK is permitted from the EU.
 Whether UKAS remains part of the European Co-operation on Accreditation (EA) which
determines policy on accreditation throughout the EU. This in turn depends whether the UK
remains part of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).
UKAS point out that they are members of the global accreditation organisation ILAC and
have signed the ILAC MRA. Laboratories’ UKAS accreditations should thus remain valid
around the world.
 What are the implications for EU research funding notably metrology research funding
through EMPIR and other Horizon 2020 schemes.
And in the context of BMTA there could be questions about our continued membership of EUROLAB.
If the UK remains in EFTA we can still continue our active membership of EUROLAB. However, if the
UK moves to the ‘WTO only’ trade agreement with the EU then under the present Articles of
Association we could only be an Observer or International member of EUROLAB.

2. BMTA would welcome hearing from members about their concerns and questions. Please email
them to the BMTA office and we will start to compile a ‘registry’ for further discussion at the
workshop/ discussion meeting in the Autumn.
Jeff Llewellyn
President and CEO.
12.July 2016