From 30 June 2022, the wholesaler has new responsibilities in relation to the sale of Electric Vehicles (EV) charge points and smart cables.
The new regulations do not apply to public EV charge points or rapid EV charge points.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is the body which enforces the new regulations, and their powers apply to the sale of the EV products.
There are 3 documents that each seller in the supply chain must comply with:
- Statement of Compliance: the seller at each point in the supply chain is responsible for providing an accurate statement of compliance. Download the government’s Statement of Compliance Template.
- If you are a multi-branch business, you can hold one Statement of Compliance centrally within a business which every branch can refer to/make available at the point of sale.
- The Statement of Compliance does not have to be printed and can be electronic, made available by a QR code, for example.
- The Statement of Compliance does not have to be a separate document. Documents can be multi-purpose: the information required by a Statement of Compliance could be integrated within, for example, an invoice.
- Technical File: this must also be available to the purchaser on request for each charge point sold. You may find it helpful to proactively provide or offer the technical file to your contractor customers. Download the government’s Technical File Template
- Keep a register of sales for 10 years: The seller at each point of the supply chain is responsible for maintaining their own register of sales. Download the government’s Register of Sales Template
Enforcement Undertakings
An Enforcement Undertaking (EU) is a commitment by a business to undertake specific actions within a specified timeframe. An EU is submitted to the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) for review: they can accept or reject the EU.
Follow this link to the page where you can download an Enforcement Undertaking template. This can be used by both manufacturers and wholesalers. Completed EUs should be submitted to evscp@beis.gov.uk or you can submit by post:
The Office for Product Safety and Standards
Cannon House|
18 The Priory Queensway
Birmingham B4 6BS.
In certain circumstances, wholesalers will also have to apply for an Enforcement Undertaking:
- For charge points which are made compliant upon installation for example through a software upgrade which goes live as soon as the product is installed only the first seller in the chain will need an Enforcement Undertaking. Typically, this will be the manufacturer.
- For charge points which are never going to be compliant but which can be traded under an (approved) EU because there is stock to be cleared/sold, an EU will be need to be applied for by both the first and second sellers in the chain. Typically, the manufacturer is the first seller and wholesaler the second. An expedited process has been agreed within OPSS for EUs received from second sellers.
Important note regarding first and second sellers:
- If the manufacturer buys in the component parts and assembles the product they are classed as the first seller, and the wholesaler is the second seller
- If the manufacturer imports a complete charge point which has already been assembled by another party, then they are the second seller and the wholesaler is the third seller in the chain.
