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United Kingdom (GB) - Candles and home fragrance

UKCA and compliance requirements for candles and home fragrance

Fragranced home products. General product safety plus chemical classification/labelling rules dominate; plug-in and electric variants become electrical products.

For example: scented candle, reed diffuser, wax melts, plug-in air freshener.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: scented candles, wax melts and diffuser liquids are chemical mixtures — the EU CLP Regulation 1272/2008 (hazard classification, pictograms, allergen labelling) applies and is beyond this dataset; the UK applies GB CLP. Flag as 'additional sector rules apply'. Candle fire-safety warning labels follow EN 15494 in the EU (a general-product-safety standard — verify current designation status in the UK). US: candles are covered by general CPSA duties with voluntary ASTM standards (e.g. ASTM F2058 warning labels) — no mandatory federal candle standard, but Prop 65 applies to wick materials and fragrance chemicals. Plug-in air fresheners and electric wax warmers are mains electrical products — the mains attribute brings LVD/electrical safety, EMC, RoHS and WEEE, and UKCA marking follows. Essential oils sold as cosmetics or with therapeutic claims move into cosmetics/medicines law — out of scope.

Base requirements1 instruments

The General Product Safety Regulations 2005SI 2005 No. 1803

The general safety net for consumer products in Great Britain: no producer may place a product on the market unless it is safe, and producers and distributors must monitor products and notify authorities about unsafe ones. In Northern Ireland these Regulations were superseded on 13 December 2024 by the EU General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988.

Key obligations

  • 01No producer shall place a product on the market unless the product is a safe product (regulation 5) - one which under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use presents no risk, or only the minimum risk compatible with the product's use.source
  • 02Producers must provide consumers with the relevant information to enable them to assess the risks and take precautions, and enable traceability by indicating the producer's name and address on the product or its packaging.source
  • 03Producers must monitor marketed products: sample-test them, investigate and where necessary keep a register of complaints, and keep distributors informed of the results.source
  • 04Distributors must act with due care to help ensure only safe products are supplied and must not supply products that, as a professional, they know or ought to know to be dangerous (regulation 8).source

If your product also...

Extra regulations triggered by specific features

Documents you will need

Deduplicated across the regulations above

  • Traceability and monitoring recordsNo declaration of conformity or technical file is required. Producers should be able to evidence traceability (name and address on product or packaging), sample testing, complaint investigation and, where necessary, a complaints register.source

Frequently asked

Does GPSR 2005 require UKCA marking or a declaration of conformity?+

No. It is a general safety-net regulation with no conformity marking, declaration of conformity or technical file. Your obligations are that the product is safe, that consumers get the information they need, that you can trace products (name and address on the product or packaging), and that you monitor and notify.

Other markets, same product

Other categories in United Kingdom (GB)

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