The Machinery Directive is one of the most vital European product legislative Directives which regulates machinery, interchangeable equipment and other related equipment within the EU.

The year 2021 is expected to become the year in which the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC will be revised. The current Machinery Directive dates back to 2006. After 15 years, it became high time for a modernization, from both a technological as well as a legal point of view.

The European Commission briefed the Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions on the proposal for revising the Machinery Directive, which aims at:

• addressing the risks stemming from new technologies while allowing for technical progress;
• simplifying the requirements for documentation, by allowing digital formats, hence reducing administrative;
• burden for economic operators, with an additional positive impact on environmental costs;
• improving the legal clarity of some major concepts and definitions in the current text of the Directive;
• ensuring coherence with other Directives and Regulations for products and improving enforcement of the legislation through the alignment to the New Legislative Framework; and
• reducing costs of transposition by converting the Directive into a Regulation.

From Machinery Directive to Machinery Regulation

Legally, the transition from Machinery Directive to Machinery Regulation is particularly interesting. As a result of this change the European regulations will no longer need to be transposed into national legislations by all Member States. Instead, the Machinery Regulation will soon have a direct effect, which means that it will have exactly the same effect in all EU countries and can be imposed directly. The Machinery Regulation will then be uniform in all Member States within the European Union.

Draft version of the Machinery Regulation

The draft version of the new legislation was published on April 21 this year. At the same time, the European Commission also published proposals to regulate artificial intelligence in the EU. Because many new machines use new digital technologies, the European Commission intends to make a link between these topics in the European Union.t

The (technical and legal) experts on product safety and compliance of Certification Company and MAAK Attorneys will keep you updated on all major developments with regard to the revision of the Machinery Directive.

Would you like to explore the impact of the revision of the Machinery Directive on your company, the design of new machines, the sale of machines or the use of machines as work equipment, please do not hesitate to contact us.