New update for official Machinery Directive guide.

After leaving the European Union, UK machine builders will still need to comply with the European Machinery Directives on equipment destined for both home and export markets. A helpful source of information is the MachineBuilding.net website which regularly contains updated information.

According to MachineBuilding, on 19 July 2017 the European Commission published Edition 2.1 of The Guide to the Application of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. This Update covers amendments made to the Machinery Directive by the Directive 2009/127/EC on Pesticide Equipment and the Regulation (EU) No 167/2013 on the approval and market surveillance of agricultural and forestry vehicles (tractors).

New key guidance issues

Several key guidance decisions of the Machinery Working Group have been incorporated into this edition new of the guidance. In addition, there is new guidance on ‘partly completed machinery’ and ‘assemblies’, and clarifications and corrections have been inserted relating to the following concepts:

– safety components
– new and used machinery
– marking of machinery

The Guide has been prepared with the help of an Editorial Group and the Update of the 2nd Edition has been carried out by an external consultant (Phil Papard Consulting) and the Commission, assisted by some of the members of the Editorial Group.

Edition 2.1 of The Guide to the Application of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC runs to 457 pages (compared with 404 pages for Edition 2). Some of the additional pagination is accounted for by the incorporation of six Specific guidance documents as follows:

– Safety fences as safety components under the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
– Classification of equipment used for lifting loads with lifting machinery
– Emergency stop devices
– Guards for drilling machines
– Manually loaded trucks for the collection of household refuse incorporating a compression mechanism
– Interchangeable equipment for lifting persons and equipment used with machinery designed for lifting goods for the purpose of lifting persons

This is the first time the official guide to the Machinery Directive has been updated since June 2010, though additional guidance material has been published in the intervening years, such as the document Safety fences as safety components under the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. Unfortunately, the updates have not been identified by, for example, a rule in the margin adjacent to changes or additions. Machine builders and others interested in the requirements relating to CE marking of machinery will therefore have to check carefully to see what has been changed or clarified in the latest guidance.

Copies of Edition 2.1 of The Guide to the Application of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC can be downloaded from the Machinery section of the European Commission website