Principles, Standards and Implementation

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Regulations

EU Directives and Legislation The EU Machinery Directive Essential Health and Safety Requirements The Machinery Directive—Conformity Assessment and Standards Technical File Conformity Assessment Notified Bodies
EC Declaration of Conformity Procedure EC Declaration of Incorporation for Partly Completed Machinery Machinery Supplied from Outside the EU—
Authorized Representatives		 The EU Use of Work Equipment Directive (U.W.E. Directive) U.S. Regulations Occupational Safety and Health Administration Canada Regulations
The EU Machinery Directive

The Machinery Directive covers the supply of new machinery and other equipment including safety components. It is an offense to supply machinery within the EU unless the provisions and requirements of the Directive are met.

The broadest definition of “machinery” given within the Directive is a follows: an assembly, fitted with or intended to be fitted with a drive system other than directly applied human or animal effort, consisting of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, and which are joined together for a specific application.

Detailed information and guidance on the definition and all other aspects of the Machinery Directive can be found at the official EU website:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/mechanical/machinery/index_en.htm

The current Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) replaced the former version (98/37/EC) at the end of 2009. It clarifies and amends but does not introduce any radical changes to its Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSRs). It does introduce some changes to take account of changes in technology and methods. It extends its scope to cover some extra types of equipment (e.g. construction site hoists). There is now an explicit requirement for a risk assessment for the determination of which EHSRs are applicable and there are changes made to the conformity assessment procedures for Annex IV equipment.

The key provisions of the original Directive (98/37/EC) came into force for machinery on January 1, 1995 and for Safety Components on January 1, 1997.

The provisions of the current Directive (2006/42/EC) became applicable on December 29, 2009. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer or his authorized representative to ensure that equipment supplied is in conformity with the Directive. This includes:

Click to enlarge - Principles_Figure 01 (Stamp)
 
Figure 1: CE Marking Affixed to Machine