On 31st March 2017, VCA, along with all other arms of the UK Government adopted the Royal Coat of Arms logo which you can see here, and in the top left hand corner of this screen.

Type approval certificates

The Royal Coat of arms logo now appears on all new and extended type approval certificates.

There will however, continue to be active certificates that were issued prior to 2017 that will still show the old blue and green logo.

For the avoidance of doubt, any VCA type approval certificate or test report that was issued with the old logo prior to January 2018 should not be considered to be invalid on the grounds that the old logo is still displayed.

VCA’s authentication Stamp

The authentication stamp that VCA uses as part of the approval process also changed in 2017 and was applied to all documentation issued from 31 March 2017.

VCA’s authentication stamp:

Use of the logo by third parties

Can I use the new logo when advertising VCA type approved products?

No. Unlike the previous version of the logo, the Royal Coat of Arms logo may only be used by Government Agencies and certain named third-parties. Use in any commercial context is strictly forbidden.

The legislation that governs the use of the Royal Coat of Arms can be found in the Trade Marks Act 1994 (see Section 99(1) of the Act).

Further guidance can be found here: https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/royal_arms_blue_booklet20152.pdf

Can I use the old VCA logo when advertising VCA type approved products?

No, this is not permitted.

The old VCA logo is no longer in use in any form and should have been removed from websites (and other marketing materials) by the end of 2017.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about the use of the logo, or the validity of  an approval issued by VCA, then please contact us through the “Get In Touch” form.