WTO pre-notification cover note – Smart Chargepoints (UK)  
 
Background  
In 2020 the UK Government announced that the phase-out date for the sale of new 
petrol and diesel cars and vans will be brought forward to 2030, with all cars and 
vans to be fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035. To enable this, EVs need to 
be effectively integrated into and actively support the energy system.  
Smart charging can help reduce and manage the impact of EVs on the electricity 
system. By smart charging during off-peak periods when electricity demand is low, 
consumers can benefit from cheaper electricity and we can avoid triggering 
unnecessary network reinforcement. Charging of EVs can also be shifted to periods 
where there is plentiful renewable electricity generation.  
The ‘Automated and electric vehicles (AEV) act 2018’  gives Government the powers 
through secondary legislation, to mandate that all EV chargepoints sold or 
installed in the UK have smart functionality and meet minimum device-level 
requirements.  The UK Government is planning to take forward these powers for 
private chargepoints  to help ensure these vital building blocks of a smart system 
are in place from an early stage.  
In 2019, UK Government set out its proposals for these regulations in the smart 
charging consultation . The consultation sets out the Government's aim to maximise 
the use of smart charging technologies to benefit both consumers and the electricity 
system, whilst supporting the transition to EVs. We proposed to mandate that all 
private chargepoints must be smart and meet a set of minimum device standards in 
key areas (cyber and data security, grid stability and interoperability).  
To deliver consistent minimum standards, the consultation proposed that the 
regulations will ordinarily require compliance with elements of the British Standards 
Institution (BSI) standards for energy smart appliances (ESAs) (publicly available 
specification (PAS)1878) . This standard is currently under development through an 
industry-led process and is expected to be published in due course. The standard 
was conceived to address current standardisation gaps, while at the same time 
noting and following the relevant, nascent international work to standardise demand 
side response in Europe and internationally.  
  
Timeline and update  
The UK Government published a summary of consultation responses  in May 2020, 
and intends to publish a policy response in June/July 2021. The relevant legislation 
is then planned to be laid in late 2021.  
Since publishing the summary of responses, the Government has been developing 
key policy positions through further engagement with stakeholders. The UK 
Government has also reassessed the evidence for mandating some of the specific 
solutions proposed in the consultation. In 2021, the Government still intends to mandate that all private chargepoints must be smart, but the legislation on minimum 
standards will be less prescriptive than the consultation proposed and may deviate 
from PAS 1878.   
WTO pre-notification  
Due to the international supply chain of smart chargepoints, the UK Government 
would like to invite comment from WTO members on these regulatory plans. As the 
regulations are still in development, we plan to formally notify the WTO later in 2021 
ahead of laying legislation with the finalised draft documentation. However, to ensure 
UK officials can consider the views of WTO members during our policy development, 
we are asking for early feedback via this pre-notification too.   
We would like to invite interested WTO members to provide feedback to UK 
Government officials by 31 March 2021 regarding the published consultation, 
summary of responses and draft regulations. We would particularly welcome WTO 
members views on the impact of the proposed legislation.