WHAT IS NEW WITH THE EUROPEAN MACHINERY DIRECTIVES?
Harry Mulder, Beckhoff Automation*
The EU Machinery Directives are currently being superseded in favour of the Machinery Regulation, which comes into force in January 2027.
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY AUG/SEP 2025
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he European Union (EU) has for over three decades legally mandated that any product sold there be compliant to all relevant directives. These directives are in place mainly to ensure the safety of the product. The CE marking on a product is used to indicate that it complies with the directives, giving assurance about the product to the consumer. The European directives, while not mandated here in Australia or New Zealand, are still highly relevant for us. Exporters of industrial machinery into the EU will need to be acutely aware of the directives, as their products must strictly adhere to them. Similarly, many of the products that we
import from Europe will most likely have the CE marking, confirming their compliance to EU directives. It’s therefore vital that we’re aware of any amendments to these directives, especially major changes. For the case at hand, we’re currently in a transition phase, where the existing Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, which has been in force since December 2009, is being phased out. Its replacement is the Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council of Machinery. This regulation was first published in June 2023 and will become law in all member EU states on 20 January 2027. A 42-month window was given for relevant parties to become compliant, but the deadline is now
less than 18 months away. It’s important to note that multiple directives will often apply to a machine being sold into the EU, not just the Machinery Directive/Regulation. While the complete list of applicable directives will depend on the machine type, those listed in Table 1 give an idea of what’s required.
WHAT ARE DIRECTIVES AND WHY HAVE THEM? ‘Directives’ within the EU are akin to policies that are legally enforceable and they are common to all the member states. Directives seek to provide assurance that products meet all the various health and safety requirements of the EU, as well PROCESSONLINE.COM.AU