The European Commission is exploring modifications to Directive 2006/42/EC. A few weeks ago, they announced this potential change, which will remain uncertain for a few more months.
El Parlamento Europeo y la Directiva 2006/42/CE es la Directiva sobre la CE Marking of machinery. It sets out the technical requirements that machinery and its safety components must meet in order to be marketed in the European Union and the European Economic Area.
The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC is a European Union directive that sets out the essential health and safety requirements that machinery must meet in order to be sold within the European Economic Area (EEA).
Directiva de Máquinas, 2006/42/CE. “Machinery Directive”. It is the regulatory provision that binds the member states of the European Union concerning machinery. It addresses the obligations of manufacturers, safety and health requirements for the design and manufacture of machinery, and the necessary conformity assessment procedures that apply to their marketing or putting into service.
This regulation applies to new machines manufactured in the European Union and to new or used machines originating from third countries. Its aim is to ensure a certain level of safety and health protection, while also guaranteeing the free movement of machines on the European Union market.
What changes would the new directive bring about?
The European Commission is currently in the process of amending Directive 2006/42/EC on machinery. On 21 April, it published a draft of what could be the new Machinery Directive. Changes to this draft are still being considered, with a deadline of Tuesday 22 June.
This period is a consultation period for Parliament and the Council to have the opportunity to provide potential new variations to this regulation. The European Commission considers the review of some aspects of Directive 2006/42/EC to be very important, with the aim of improving the harmonisation rules within its scope.
So far, the proposed changes are:
- Change its designation to “Machinery Regulation”. It will not be necessary to base it on the national legislation of each European Union country, thus solving possible differences in the level of safety between the different Member States.
- Taking on a new legislative framework called the NLF, which lays down the rules for placing a product on the market. These rules would be based on conformity assessment along with its relevant health and safety requirements. Set out in the NLF: the role of manufacturers, importers, distributors, and other economic operators; the principles for the accreditation of notified bodies, their role and functions; and the CE marking that must be present on the product.
- In particular, the impact this change would have on New Technologies was studied. Some EU Member States have presented certain updates to the technical requirements for traditional machinery. The annexes to the draft Machinery Regulation have been reorganised so that Annex IV, which contains the list of high-risk machinery, would be moved to Annex I of the Regulation, and the technical requirements now move to Annex III.
