It will be a while before the new Machinery Directive (EU) 2023/1230 becomes mandatory for manufacturers on January 20, 2027. We think it is important to report on the upcoming machinery regulation in good time.
Deadline regulation
1 The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EU is applicable until January 19, 2027.
2 The Machinery Regulation must be applied by manufacturers of machinery from January 20, 2027.
There are a few points in time before January 20, 2027 at which the Commission and the EU states must implement something. These include, for example, the penalties for violating the Machinery Regulation, which are determined individually by the EU member states. The EU member states must notify the EU Commission of the specified regulations on sanctions by October 20, 2026.
For manufacturers of series products, the deadline regulation means that they must provide an EU Declaration of Conformity in accordance with the Machinery Directive, which is valid until January 19, 2027, and an EU Declaration of Conformity in accordance with the Machinery Regulation, which is valid from January 20, 2027. There are also suggestions as to what a combined EU declaration of conformity could look like. This combined EU declaration of conformity is not prohibited.
As always, the core of the EU declaration of conformity are the (listed) harmonized standards. Which brings us to the next question:
When will there be listed harmonized standards on the Machinery Regulation in the EU Official Journal?
The EU Commission is aiming to correctly transfer as many of the more than 800 standards from the Machinery Directive to the new Machinery Regulation as possible. Each standard must therefore be given an Annex Z*, which shows the contents of the standard in relation to the relevant essential requirements of the Machinery Regulation.
A database has been set up at CEN for this purpose, in which each "Technical Committee (TC)" that draws up standards evaluates the existing standards in relation to the essential requirements of the Machinery Regulation.
The standards committees have been asked to do this since February 2024 and have until the end of October 2024 to evaluate them. The EU Commission hopes to be able to list the first standards, possibly with restrictions due to the new requirements, at the turn of the year 2024/2025.
We at GLOBALNORM are monitoring the next steps and will keep you informed.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Author
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Sahm
Senior Product Compliance Consultant
