1.2 EU machinery directive 2006/42/EC
Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC regulates a uniform level of safety for machines in order to enable free merchandise traffic and distribution within the European Economic Area. It applies to manufacturers and distributors of machinery and devices. The Machinery Directive can be found in its original text at www.eur-lex.europa.eu.
Structure and content of the machinery directive:
| Recitals |
No. 1- 28 |
| Part available |
Article 1 - 28 |
| Annex I: |
Essential health and safety requirements for the design and construction of machines |
| Annex II: |
Content Declaration of Conformity |
| Annex III: |
CE conformity assessment |
| Annex IV: |
Listing of machinery regarded as particularly hazardous or components relevant to safety |
| Annex V: |
Non-exhaustive list of safety components |
| Annex VI: |
Assembly instructions for partly completed machinery |
| Annex VII: |
Technical documents for machinery |
| Annex VIII: |
Assessment of conformity with internal checks on the manufacture of machinery |
| Annex IX: |
EC Type Examination |
| Annex X: |
Full quality assurance |
| Annex XI: |
Minimum criteria for the notification of test centers |
| Annex XII: |
Correlation table old/new directive |
What do machine manufacturers and distributors have to comply with?
- The basic safety requirements of Appendix I must be met.
This means that early in the design phase the designer must perform a parallel risk assessment so that all required measures for risk reduction are already considered in the machine’s construction phase.
- A declaration of conformity must be obtained for every machine.
For machines and safety components that are not listed in Annex IV, the actual manufacturer has responsibility for providing the CE conformity assessment; they obtain a declaration of conformity and consequently certify compliance with the Machinery Directive. They must document all records, such as measurement and test results, and be able to produce them when requested by national authorities. Another certification procedure is required for machines and safety components that are listed in Annex IV.
A few important statements acc. to the machinery directive include:
- The same machine regulations apply for exchangeable equipment, safety components, chains/ropes/belts for lifting purposes, cardan shafts and load-carrying equipment. They have to be distributed with CE conformity assessment, declaration of conformity and the required user information.
- For partly completed machinery, the manufacturer has to supply special technical documents (Annex VII Part B), installation instructions (Annex VI) and a declaration of incorporation (Annex II, Part 1, Section B). which must specify which requirements of the directive apply to the part-machine and have been complied with. Installation instructions must be provided with the machine’s documentation.
- Lifting devices with a speed of up to 0.15 m/s of the load carrier are subject to the Machinery Directive; with a speed of more than 0.15 m/s they are subject to the Lift Directive (if they are not covered by its rules of exception).
- Construction site lifts are subject to the Machinery Directive.
- Clearer delimitation of the Machinery Directive for the Low Voltage Directive.
- Internal production controls for series machines (Annex VIII).
- The validity of EC Type Examination certifications must be checked by the test center every 5 years. Manufacturers and test centers are obligated to retain the relevant technical documents for 10 years.
The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC can be found in its original German text at http://eur-lex.europa.eu.
|
