Machinery Directive
Number: 2006/42/EC
Official Title:
Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC
Description:
The Machinery Directive (with the official reference number 2006/42/EC) covers the safety aspects of machinery, but also safety components, ropes, chains, etc : mechanical design, electrical design, controls, safety, and the potential for the machinery to create hazardous.
The Machinery Directive defines which products fall within its field of application, it provides the essential requirements that machinery and other equipment covered by it must comply with, and it outlines the conformity assessment procedure the manufacturer must apply in order to ensure compliance with the essential requirements.
Which Products Are Covered By The Machinery Directive?
The Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) covers machinery that are match the definition provided in the directive:
Other types of equipment that are within the scope of the Machinery Directive are:
One further class of products that are almost machinery are brought into scope of the Directive, but they are treated slightly differently to “machinery” as defined above:
‘partly completed machinery’ means an assembly which is almost machinery but which cannot in itself perform a specific application. A drive system is partly completed machinery. Partly completed machinery is only intended to be incorporated into or assembled with other machinery or other partly completed machinery or equipment, thereby forming machinery to which this Directive applies
In the case of partly completed machinery it must not be supplied CE marked and instead of a Declaration of Conformity must be accompanied by a Declaration of Incorporation. It must also be supplied with instructions for its safe incorporation in an assembly with other machinery, partly completed machinery or equipment to form a machine. The person / organisation undertaking the final incorporation / assembly process to form the final machine then becomes the manufacturer of the complete product. As such they have to meet the requirements of the Directive, apply the CE mark and issue a Declaration of Conformity for the complete machine or assembly.
Which Products Are Not Covered By The Machinery Directive?
Excluded from the Machinery Directive are:
Other machines covered by other Directives are also excluded, for example:
How to Comply with the Machinery Directive:
Basically, the Machinery Directive offers two ways to perform conformity assessment:
1. Internal Production Control or CE marking self-certification: the manufacturer performs the conformity assessment and documents the assessment in his own right.
2. Involvement of a Notified Body: For higher risk machinery (listed in Annex IV to the Machinery Directive), for which no European harmonized standards are available, or for which the manufacturer did not apply these standards, the manufacturer is required to involve a third party certification body, or so-called ‘Notified Body’.
The following machines are listed on Annex IV of the Machinery Directive, and this means that for these machines it is mandatory to involve a Notified Body in the conformity assessment if the manufacturers has not used (all) European harmonised standards:
1. Circular saws (single- or multi-blade) for working with wood and material with similar physical characteristics or for working with meat and material with similar physical characteristics, of the following types:
1.1. sawing machinery with fixed blade(s) during cutting, having a fixed bed or support with manual feed of the work- piece or with a demountable power feed;
1.2. sawing machinery with fixed blade(s) during cutting, having a manually operated reciprocating saw-bench or carriage;
1.3 sawing machinery with fixed blade(s) during cutting, having a built-in mechanical feed device for the workpieces, with manual loading and/or unloading;
1.4. sawing machinery with movable blade(s) during cutting, having mechanical movement of the blade, with manual loading and/or unloading.
2. Hand-fed surface planing machinery for woodworking.
3. Thicknessers for one-side dressing having a built-in mechanical feed device, with manual loading and/or unloading for woodworking.
4. Band-saws with manual loading and/or unloading for working with wood and material with similar physical characteristics or for working with meat and material with similar physical characteristics, of the following types:
4.1. sawing machinery with fixed blade(s) during cutting, having a fixed or reciprocating-movement bed or support for the workpiece;
4.2. sawing machinery with blade(s) assembled on a carriage with reciprocating motion.
5. Combined machinery of the types referred to in points 1 to 4 and in point 7 for working with wood and material with similar physical characteristics.
6. Hand-fed tenoning machinery with several tool holders for woodworking.
7. Hand-fed vertical spindle moulding machinery for working with wood and material with similar physical characteristics.
8. Portable chainsaws for woodworking.
9. Presses, including press-brakes, for the cold working of metals, with manual loading and/or unloading, whose movable working parts may have a travel exceeding 6 mm and a speed exceeding 30 mm/s.
10. Injection or compression plastics-moulding machinery with manual loading or unloading.
11. Injection or compression rubber-moulding machinery with manual loading or unloading.
12. Machinery for underground working of the following types:
12.1. locomotives and brake-vans;
12.2. hydraulic-powered roof supports.
13. Manually loaded trucks for the collection of household refuse incorporating a compression mechanism.
14. Removable mechanical transmission devices including their guards.
15. Guards for removable mechanical transmission devices.
16. Vehicle servicing lifts.
17. Devices for the lifting of persons or of persons and goods involving a hazard of falling from a vertical height of more than three metres.
18. Portable cartridge-operated fixing and other impact machinery.
19. Protective devices designed to detect the presence of persons.
20. Power-operated interlocking movable guards designed to be used as safeguards in machinery referred to in points 9, 10 and 11.
21. Logic units to ensure safety functions.
22. Roll-over protective structures (ROPS).
23. Falling-object protective structures (FOPS).
European Harmonised Standards Related to Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC:
Coming Soon…
The Latest Related Blog Posts About the Machinery Directive:

EN 12312-6 Superseded
October 1, 2017New Lists of Standards for Machinery, ATEX and Construction Products
June 9, 2017


New List of Standards for Machinery
May 28, 2016


Machine Importer and Employer Fined For Non-Compliance After Incident
November 19, 2014- Machinery Directive – 2006/42/EC
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