Made In The UK

[ecs]

If you were to mark an electronic product with 'Made In The UK', what would you expect from it's constituent components? Would it be acceptable to label something which was assembled from around 50% UK sourced components and around 50% components that are sourced from abroad? Would it be better to say 'Assembled In The UK' instead?

I can't seem to find a lot of information about this, but I assume you've got to be careful not to mislead your customers.

[AnimalBob]

I don't think you could call it made in the UK. This is an interesting article on the subject though.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/15/europ...

[Dr Interceptor]

I sell a number of products which are developed and made here in the UK, but where a number of the core components are sourced from overseas.

With my consumers hat on for a minute, providing all of the main R&D happens here in the UK, and providing the manufacturer is a bona fide tax-paying UK company with a UK based support network, I'm happy for it to be called a British product.

Take a Jaguar or Land Rover for instance (ignoring the Tata overlords for a moment) - UK developed cars, and UK built. I'd call them British even though bits come from Valeo, bits come from Bosch, gearboxes come from ZF etc etc etc.

[TheEnd]

For electronics, I'd expect designed and assembled in the UK only.
I doubt you'd be able to get most of the components from UK manufacturers.

[ecs]

It's the PCB and electronics which come from abroad. I suppose, delving deeper into it, there are wooden and plastic parts, paints and adhesives too - they (or the raw materials at least) may also come from abroad.

The business is UK based and all the R&D has been carried out here. You see it in the cycling world actually, there's an article somewhere of some Italian brand road bikes being 'Made in Italy' in China by Giant. Their claim is that the R&D is done in Italy so the bike is Italian.

Difficult one I guess, I'd just like to have a little 'Made in GB' sticker on the packaging and product

[Ean218]

ecs said:

It's the PCB and electronics which come from abroad. I suppose, delving deeper into it, there are wooden and plastic parts, paints and adhesives too - they (or the raw materials at least) may also come from abroad.

The business is UK based and all the R&D has been carried out here. You see it in the cycling world actually, there's an article somewhere of some Italian brand road bikes being 'Made in Italy' in China by Giant. Their claim is that the R&D is done in Italy so the bike is Italian.

Difficult one I guess, I'd just like to have a little 'Made in GB' sticker on the packaging and product

If it's an electronic product and the PCB is foreign and it was populated abroad then there is not very much 'Made in GB' about it. The Italian claim is just bonkers.

[ecs]

The PCB is made in Malaysia but it's populated in the UK.

[AnimalBob]

Interesting how they get away with the Italian bike claim, I've seen bikes that have designed in the UK stuck on them so maybe you could go with something that says designed and assembled in the UK? I think claiming that it's made in the UK would be frowned on.

[anonymous-user]

You can claim the country of origin as the country where the last major manufacturing operation was performed.