Overview Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC

Machinery Directive 2006/42/EG

Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC applies to machinery and partly completed machinery, interchangeable equipment, safety components, removable mechanical transmission devices and lifting accessories as well as chains, ropes and webbing.

Machinery is an assembly, fitted with or intended to be equipped with a drive system, consisting of linked parts or components, at least one of which can move. Certain products are excluded from the scope of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, there are specific equipment for use in fairgrounds and/or amusement parks, weapons, including firearms, certain vehicles such as agricultural and forestry tractors. Specific products that fall under the scope of other EU Directives (eg. The ATEX Directive) are also excluded from the scope of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. In every EU/EEA country is an institute that is responsible for supervision and compliance with the Machinery Directive. Penalties for machinery & equipment without a CE mark can vary from a warning to fines for infringement of the Commodities Act (up to € 810,000 by April 21, 2015!).

Compliance procedure

Before placing machinery on the market and/or putting it into service the manufacturer or his authorised representative should go through the following compliance procedure:

• ensure that machinery complies with all applicable health and safety requirements;
• ensure that the Technical File is available;
• provide the necessary information, such as instructions;
• carry out the entire procedure for assessing conformity;
• draw up the EC Declaration of Conformity;
• affix the CE marking;

To meet the essential health and safety requirements, the manufacturer may use harmonised European standards. To determine which essential health and safety requirements apply, the manufacturer must carry out a risk analysis to identify potential risks. Any identified risks should be kept to the lowest possible risk.

Dangerous machinery

The Annex IV of the Machinery Directive contains a list of machinery. Many of these are dangerous machinery such as sawing machinery, surface planning machinery, band saws, etc. If the machinery is referred to in Anex IV and manufactured in accordance with a harmonised standard, the manufacturer or his authorised representative shall apply the procedure for assessment of conformity with internal checks on the manufacture of machinery or the EC type-examination procedure provided plus the internal checks on the manufacture of machinery.

Partly completed machinery

The manufacturer of partly completed machinery should make a declaration of incorporation, stating that it is to be incorporated into machinery or assembled with other partly completed machinery to form machinery. Also the statement that the partly completed machinery must not be put into service until the final machinery into which it is to be incorporated has been declared in conformity with the provisions of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, where appropriate, should be included.