Machinery that is being sold in Europe is required to be CE Marked under the Machinery Directive. The Equivalent UK legislation is The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008
Machines that are being placed on the market in Europe are required to be CE Marked under the Machinery Directive before they are put into service. The Directive applies to machines that are new, but also applies to machines that have been built for own use, or where they have been modified or rebranded.
Machinery for the European market has been required to be CE marked since 1995, and the current Directive (2006/42/EC, which came into force on the 29th December 2009) sets out seven categories of equipment which are within scope:
It is important to read the definitions and exclusions within Articles 1 and 2 of the Machinery Directive to fully understand if your equipment is in or out of scope.
CE Marking Machinery under the Directive is relatively straightforward when it comes to establishing the route to conformity for equipment within scope. The majority of equipment will fall under a self-declaration route, however there are separate routes for ‘high risk’ equipment (which are items that are listed within Annex IV of the Directive) and for partly completed machinery, as shown below:
The majority of machinery will fall under the ‘Internal Checks’ route; which requires the manufacturer to undertake 5 key tasks:
Undertake a risk assessment
Demonstrate conformity to the Essential Health and Safety Requirements of Annex I, or against the requirements of applicable harmonised standards.
Compile technical documentation
Complete an EC Declaration of Conformity
Affix the CE mark
Once a manufacturer has completed these tasks and found that the machine fulfils all of these requirements, then the machine can be deemed to be CE marked and is now ready to be placed on the market.
The full text of the Machinery Directive can be viewed on the European Commission’s website.
The CE Marking Association assists manufacturers, importers and users of machinery on a day to basis and we have a range of services to meet your needs. We can undertake some or all of the tasks with our compliance services, or we can help bring the knowledge in-house with our training and consultancy services. Here are some of the services on offer:
For more support on CE Marking under the Machinery Directive, or to find out how we can help you, please contact us as below:
