EU · Directive 2006/42/EC; Regulation (EU) 2023/1230
Machinery safety and the 2027 legal transition
Identify the market and product category first. Each dossier separates legal duties, referenced standards, evidence and the comparison needed for an award.
Product Scope
Machinery, interchangeable equipment, safety components and other expressly included products; partly completed machinery has a distinct incorporation route. Powered garden tools, industrial robots and motorised gates require classification rather than treating every moving product as a household appliance.
Requirements
Risk assessment must address intended operation, foreseeable misuse, guarding, controls, emergency stops, stability, electrical risks, noise and residual hazards as relevant. A type-C machinery standard may specify the product’s detailed tests; type-A/B standards do not alone demonstrate every machine-specific requirement.
Required Evidence
Provide the technical file, risk assessment, safety-function validation, complete product tests, drawings, instructions and declaration. Apply the correct Annex IV conformity route where relevant and confirm notified-body competence when used. Partly completed machinery requires assembly instructions and an incorporation declaration, not an unsupported finished-machine CE claim.
Comparison for the Awards
Lower noise or vibration and relevant reliability margins may be comparable under defined loading and methods. Emergency-stop presence, risk-document completeness and general CE conformity remain baseline conditions rather than quantified superiority.
Version & Transition
Machinery placed on the market before 20 January 2027 must comply with Directive 2006/42/EC. The new Regulation applies mandatorily from that date; its publication in 2023 did not replace the Directive immediately.
Official Sources
Applicability depends on the product classification, intended use, configuration and actual sales territory. Manufacturing, placing-on-the-market and testing dates, together with transition provisions, are checked as required by each applicable rule. The directory identifies sources; it does not replace assessment of the specific model. Standards are identified by reference, and their authoritative texts remain with the issuing bodies. Official source documents retain their original language.