On June 29, 2023, the new EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 was officially published in the Official Journal of the European Union to address the technological evolution trend of digital, interconnected, and intelligent machinery. After the implementation of this machinery regulation, it will replace the current EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, and will officially come into effect on July 19, 2023, with a transition period of 42 months, which means it will officially come into effect on January 14, 2027.
Although the Machinery Regulations do not constitute a paradigm shift in industry, they introduce many relevant changes in practice that economic operators must address to ensure product compliance.
1、 Regulations issued
The European Commission stated that the importance of this regulation is self-evident, as it can continuously maintain the safety of EU citizens under the transformation of machine technology. Its modernization upgrade of the current Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC is an important measure to manage new technological risks in the Industry 4.0 era.
2、 Adaptation of European Machinery Law to the New Legislative Framework
The new regulations are based on a new legislative framework. Therefore, the mechanical regulations have been updated with the latest European product compliance regulatory technologies in terms of methods and terminology. On the one hand, this adjustment means that importers and distributors will now be protected by the Machinery Law and must also fulfill the familiar machinery obligations in the new legislative framework. It is worth mentioning here that the obligation to notify authorities when product risks are discovered may now affect manufacturers, importers, and traders.
The requirements in the new regulations cover areas such as network security of security control systems and software related to mechanical compliance assessment; Using artificial intelligence (AI) in security functions; Automatic and remote-controlled mobile machinery; Collaborative robots (cobots); Wait.
The scope of the new regulations has also been expanded compared to its predecessor. The new mechanical regulations cover the entire supply chain and specify the specific obligations of all market participants. For example, the possibility of digital assembly and operating instructions, as well as EU compliance assessments, will significantly reduce the management work and costs for machinery manufacturers.
3、 Changes in old and new regulations
Regulations rather than directives;
Increase legal certainty and apply it uniformly in each member state (such as substantive modifications);
The order of changes in terms and attachments;
Regulations on integrating security functions related to artificial intelligence;
Integrate network security regulations and compliance related software and data for security control systems;
Digitization of usage instructions, assembly instructions, and EU compliance/company statements;
