The compliance calendar
Dates that moved, dates that quietly passed, and dates still coming. Every entry names its instrument. Where something is announced rather than in force, it says so.
Thirteen dates this market gets wrong
Several of these are still being quoted by suppliers, and one of them is still on a government page. A date that is confidently wrong is worse than one nobody knows, because somebody builds a plan on it.
Commonly said — 01
“UKCA becomes mandatory on <date>”
Actually: There is no UKCA deadline for electrical equipment, EMC, radio, machinery, pressure equipment or measuring instruments. The date moved from 1 January 2022 to 1 January 2023 — announced as 'the final deadline' — then to 31 December 2024, and then became indefinite. SI 2024/696 revoked the sunset provisions on 1 October 2024.
Why it costs something: Suppliers are still being asked to commit to a transition that was cancelled two years ago.
Commonly said — 02
“31 December 2027 is the CE marking deadline”
Actually: It governs where the UKCA mark may be PLACED, not whether CE is accepted. Until 11pm on that date the mark may sit on a label or an accompanying document; from 1 January 2028 it must be on the product or packaging. It is the only hard UKCA date left, and it says nothing about CE.
Why it costs something: The single most misdescribed date in this sector.
Commonly said — 03
“GOV.UK says CE is accepted until 31 December 2024”
Actually: One GOV.UK page still does. 'Placing manufactured goods on the market in Great Britain', last updated May 2024, carries the dead date. The current guidance suite, published 31 March 2026, says 31 December 2027 for the placement easement and indefinite for CE recognition.
Why it costs something: A supplier quoting the stale page is quoting the government, and is still wrong.
Commonly said — 04
“The G99 storage requirements are coming”
Actually: They came into force on 1 March 2026 and have passed. G99 Issue 2's own foreword separates the two: storage requirements from 1 March 2026, everything else from publication on 10 March 2025.
Why it costs something: Still written in the future tense across this market.
Commonly said — 05
“The storage compliance date is 2025 or 2026”
Actually: For Great Britain the real full-compliance boundary for electricity storage was 1 September 2022. Storage connected earlier keeps its exclusions, including Fault Ride Through. The 2026 date is specifically about behaviour in IMPORTING mode.
Why it costs something: Two different obligations four years apart, routinely collapsed into one.
Commonly said — 06
“UK compliance dates apply across the UK”
Actually: Northern Ireland is four years behind Great Britain on storage: the GB boundary was 1 September 2022, the G99/NI equivalent is 1 September 2026. NI also runs its own Fast Track threshold, and G99/NI is not a fit-and-inform regime — approval comes before installation.
Why it costs something: Applying GB dates to a Northern Ireland connection is a real and common error.
Commonly said — 07
“Def Stan 05-138 Issue 4 applied from May 2024”
Actually: It is dated May 2024 but was published FOR INFORMATION ONLY. It became operative at 00:01 GMT on 3 December 2025, and the go-live had already slipped from an earlier plan. Anyone describing Cyber Risk Profiles as Very Low, Low, Moderate and High is describing the superseded Issue 3.
Why it costs something: A supplier self-assessing against the old four-tier vocabulary is assessing against a document that no longer governs.
Commonly said — 08
“MOD requires Defence Cyber Certification Level 0 by 31 December 2026”
Actually: It is an ask, not a mandate. It appears in a Defence Digital blog post, attributed to MOD's Director of Cyber Defence and Risk — and in no Industry Security Notice and no GOV.UK guidance. Five weeks earlier the department said only that Level 0 was anticipated to become a baseline.
Why it costs something: Worth planning for. Not worth being told you are non-compliant against.
Commonly said — 09
“Battery storage above a certain size goes to national planning”
Actually: The opposite. SI 2020/1218 REMOVED storage from the Nationally Significant Infrastructure regime in England and Wales in December 2020. All battery storage now goes to the local planning authority at any capacity. Only pumped hydro stayed.
Why it costs something: Reported backwards often enough that it shapes siting decisions.
Commonly said — 10
“PAS 63100 is the standard domestic battery installations must meet”
Actually: It is a Publicly Available Specification — not law, not a British Standard, and not directly cited by MCS, which said so itself in May 2024. It reaches installers indirectly through the IET Code of Practice, which uses 'should'.
Why it costs something: A specification presented as a legal requirement changes what people think they must buy.
Commonly said — 11
“BS 7671 has a section for energy storage”
Actually: There is no Section 826. The dedicated chapter is Chapter 57, new in Amendment 4:2026, published 15 April 2026. There is also no announced 19th Edition — no draft, no timetable.
Why it costs something: Both are cited confidently by people who have not opened the book.
Commonly said — 12
“The EU Batteries Regulation applies to us”
Actually: Not in Great Britain. It has applied in Northern Ireland since 18 February 2024 under the Windsor Framework; Great Britain still runs the 2008 and 2009 Regulations.
Why it costs something: One product, two regimes, and the fork runs through the Irish Sea.
Commonly said — 13
“The Procurement Act went live in October 2024”
Actually: It went live on 24 February 2025. The original instrument still says 28 October 2024 as made — only the consolidated version carries the new date, which is why so many pages have it wrong.
Why it costs something: It revoked both the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.
Already in force
ENA EREC G98 and G99 take effect in Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Binds: Manufacturers, installers, generators, DNOs
Great Britain: full G98/G99 compliance for electricity storage. Earlier storage keeps its exclusions, including Fault Ride Through
Binds: Storage owners, manufacturers
SI 2024/696 in force — CE recognition becomes indefinite across 21 regulations, and Fast-Track UKCA is introduced with no time limit
Binds: Anyone placing product on the GB market
Procurement Act 2023 go-live. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 are revoked
Binds: Contracting authorities and suppliers
G98 and G99 Issue 2 published; all non-storage requirements in force. New compliance-monitoring clause sets witness-test signal resolutions
Binds: Generators, DNOs, manufacturers
Defence Cyber Certification launches with IASME. Cyber Essentials at all levels; Cyber Essentials Plus at Levels 2 and 3 only
Binds: Any supplier, voluntarily
CSM v4 mandatory at 00:01 GMT. Def Stan 05-138 Issue 4 becomes operative: Levels 0 to 3 at 3, 101, 139 and 144 controls. The annual SAQ review is reinstated
Binds: Every supplier on an MOD contract OR a sub-contract of one
Storage importing-mode requirements in force in Great Britain — respond automatically at 49.5 Hz and below. Type-test certificates not covering importing-mode LFSM went stale for newly manufactured units
Binds: Manufacturers, installers, storage owners
BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 published, introducing Chapter 57 for stationary secondary battery installations
Binds: Designers and installers
Cyber Essentials moves to the Danzell question set. MFA for cloud services and 14-day patching both become auto-fail, and cloud cannot be scoped out
Binds: Every CE applicant — which is every MOD supplier, since CE is control 0001
Northern Ireland storage requirements in force under G98/NI and G99/NI — four years after the GB equivalent
Binds: NI storage owners and installers
Coming
BS 7671:2018+A2:2022+A3:2024 withdrawn. Chapter 57 becomes the design basis for new battery installations
Confirmed
MOD's stated ask that industry partners hold Defence Cyber Certification Level 0
An ask — in no ISN and no guidance. Plan for it; do not treat it as a deadline
EU Machinery Regulation applies directly in Northern Ireland; SI 2026/867 splits GB and NI the same day
Confirmed
UKCA marking placement easement ends at 11pm. From 1 January 2028 the mark must be on the product or packaging
Confirmed — the only hard UKCA date left
Sources
- The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment) Regulations 2024 · legislation.gov.uk · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Using the UKCA marking · GOV.UK · retrieved 2026-09-06
- ENA Engineering Recommendation G99 Issue 2 (2025) · Energy Networks Association, via the GB Distribution Code · retrieved 2026-09-06
- ISN 2025/07 — Implementation of Cyber Security Model v4 · Ministry of Defence · retrieved 2026-09-06
- The Infrastructure Planning (Electricity Storage Facilities) Order 2020 · legislation.gov.uk · retrieved 2026-09-06
- EU batteries regulations in Northern Ireland · GOV.UK · retrieved 2026-09-06
Dates move. This page carries retrieval dates so you can see how fresh it is, and the instrument names so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it. The related detail lives on UKCA marking, the G99 bench and the compliance topics.
If one of these has caught you
The two that most often land on a test programme are the storage requirements that came in on 1 March 2026 and the cyber controls that became operative on 3 December 2025. Tell us which one you are working to and what you are testing.