Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230: what it asks of the machines you sell from 20 January 2027

What counts as machinery under the Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 defines machinery as an assembly, fitted with or intended to be fitted with a drive system other than directly applied human or animal effort, made of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, joined together for a specific application (Art. 3(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (a)). Five variants count too: an assembly missing only the parts that connect it on site or to its power source; one that works only once mounted on a means of transport or installed in a building or structure; several machines arranged and controlled to work as one whole; a lifting device powered only by human effort; and an assembly missing only the upload of the software for its specific application (Art. 3(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., points (b) to (f)).

The Regulation also covers five related products (Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

• Interchangeable equipment: a device the operator fits to a machine or tractor to change its function or add one, as long as it is not a tool (Art. 3(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Safety components: see the section on them below (Art. 3(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Lifting accessories: slings and other gear between a lifting machine and its load, or on the load, sold separately (Art. 3(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Chains, ropes and webbing made for lifting (Art. 3(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. to Art. 3(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Removable mechanical transmission devices: the shaft that carries power from a tractor or self-propelled machine to another machine (Art. 3(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Partly completed machinery is an assembly that cannot do a specific application on its own and is only meant to be built into a machine or other partly completed machinery (Art. 3(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Its manufacturer draws up the technical documentation of Annex IV, Part B, an EU declaration of incorporation and the assembly instructions of Annex XI (Art. 11Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 11Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 22Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 22Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The CE marking rules of Art. 24Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. speak of machinery and related products, not of partly completed machinery.

What sits outside the Regulation

The Regulation does not apply to, among others (Art. 2(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 2, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

• safety components that replace identical ones, supplied as spare parts by the manufacturer of the original machine;
• equipment for fairgrounds or amusement parks, mine winding gear, and machinery that moves performers during artistic performances;
• weapons, and machinery specially designed for military or police purposes, or for temporary use in research laboratories;
• means of transport by air, on water and on rail networks, except machinery mounted on them; seagoing vessels and mobile offshore units, with the machinery installed on board; and aeronautical products covered by Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, insofar as that Regulation covers the relevant requirements;
• motor vehicles and their trailers, agricultural and forestry tractors, and two- and three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles, with their systems, components and parts, except machinery mounted on them;
• motor vehicles exclusively intended for competition;
• machinery specially designed for use in a nuclear installation, where the Regulation may undermine nuclear safety;
• the electrical and electronic products listed in the table above, where the low-voltage or radio Directive covers them, and high-voltage switchgear and transformers.

Where a more specific EU law covers some of a machine’s risks, that law governs those risks and the Regulation does not apply to them (Art. 9Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine that does not comply may be shown at a trade fair or demonstration if a visible sign says it does not comply and will not be sold until it does (Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

When each part of the Regulation applies

The Official Journal text of 29 June 2023 printed 14 January 2027 for the repeal and the transition. The corrigendum of 4 July 2023 corrected it to 20 January 2027, and the penalty date to 20 October 2026.

“Placing on the market” means the first making available of a unit on the EU market (Art. 3(12)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 12Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Machinery placed on the market in conformity with the Directive before 20 January 2027 may still be made available after it (Art. 52(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 52, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission’s Blue Guide, which is guidance and not law, adds three rules for sellers:

• Counting is unit by unit: “individual units of the same model or type, which are placed on the market after the new requirements have become applicable, must comply with these new requirements” (section 2.3). A new shipment of an old model placed from 20 January 2027 follows the Regulation.
• A product “in the stocks of the manufacturer (or the authorised representative established in the Union) or the importer, where the product is not yet made available” is not yet placed (section 2.3). A manufacturer or importer holding units on 20 January 2027 sells them under the Regulation.
• A product sent to an EU fulfilment service provider and released for free circulation is placed at that moment. A product bought directly by an EU end user from outside the EU is placed “at the moment an order by an end user has been placed and confirmed for a specific product already manufactured and subject of the transaction, and ready to be shipped” (section 2.4).

The Commission’s machinery page adds: “Manufacturers are allowed to state on an EU Declaration of Conformity that such machinery also conforms with Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. if applicable.” EC type-examination certificates issued under the Directive “shall remain valid until they expire” (Art. 52(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 52, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

How the Machinery Regulation differs from the Machinery Directive

The Directive’s own duties, for units placed on the market before 20 January 2027, are in the Machinery Directive guide.

Annex I decides how a machine is assessed

Annex I lists the categories that get a stricter procedure. The Commission can move a category between the parts, add one or withdraw one by delegated act (Art. 6(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 6, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine on neither part follows the standard route.

Part A: six categories, always a notified body (Art. 6(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 6, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

1. Removable mechanical transmission devices, including their guards.
2. Guards for removable mechanical transmission devices.
3. Vehicle servicing lifts.
4. Portable cartridge-operated fixing and other impact machinery.
5. Safety components with fully or partially self-evolving behaviour using machine learning approaches, ensuring safety functions.
6. Machinery with embedded systems of that kind, in respect only of those systems, where they are not placed independently on the market.

Part B: 19 numbered categories:

The Directive had 23 categories in its Annex IV. Four of them, the transmission devices, their guards, vehicle servicing lifts and cartridge-operated fixing machinery, moved to Part A, and two machine-learning categories are new (Annex IV of the Directive; Annex I, Part A, of the Regulation).

Conformity routes under Article 25

The manufacturer chooses among the procedures its category allows (Art. 25(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Machinery under the Regulation is assessed like this:

After EU type-examination, unit verification or full quality assurance, the notified body’s identification number follows the CE marking, affixed by the body itself or under its instructions by the manufacturer or its authorised representative (Art. 24(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Notified bodies must take account of the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises when they set their fees (Art. 25(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A person who carries out a substantial modification applies the same procedures (Art. 18Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A machine built to a harmonised standard whose reference is published in the Official Journal is presumed to meet the requirements that standard covers (Art. 20(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 20, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where the Commission has requested harmonised standards, they were not delivered or do not meet the request, and no reference is published or expected within a reasonable period, it may adopt common specifications, and a machine that meets them is presumed to conform in the same way (Art. 20(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 20, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 20(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 20, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine certified under an EU cybersecurity certification scheme whose reference is published is presumed to meet sections 1.1.9 and 1.2.1 of Annex III as far as the certificate covers them (Art. 20(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 20, paragraph 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Chapter IVa holds emergency procedures. It applies only if the Commission has adopted an implementing act for machinery designated as crisis-relevant goods, and only while an internal market emergency mode is active (Art. 25aRegulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine authorised under it does not bear the CE marking (Art. 25cRegulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25cClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., paragraph 7).

Digital instructions, and when paper is required

The manufacturer decides whether instructions and the declaration are digital, within these limits:

Language: the instructions, the safety information and the Annex III information must be in a language users easily understand, as the EU country concerned determines (Art. 10(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The declaration is translated into the languages the country of sale requires (Art. 21(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 21, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The maintenance instructions for specialised personnel mandated by the manufacturer may be in one official EU language those personnel understand (Annex III, section 1.7.4). The content list for the instructions is Annex III, section 1.7.4.2. What a manual must contain for consumers under the product safety rules is in EU user manual requirements.

Sales literature must not contradict the instructions on health and safety, and sales literature that states performance must carry the same emission information as the instructions (Annex III, section 1.7.5).

Safety components sold on their own

A safety component is a physical or digital component, software included, that is designed or intended to fulfil a safety function, is placed on the market independently, and whose failure endangers people, but which the product does not need in order to work or which normal components can replace (Art. 3(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A safety function protects against a risk and, if it fails, could increase that risk (Art. 3(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A safety component sold separately is a product within the Regulation in its own right, so its manufacturer meets Article 10Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and affixes the CE marking (Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 10Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Spare safety components supplied by the manufacturer of the original machine, identical to the ones they replace, are outside it (Art. 2(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 2, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (a)).

Annex II is an indicative list of 20 entries (Art. 7(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 7, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). It names, among others, emergency stop devices, two-hand control devices, guards and protective devices against moving parts, valves with additional failure detection, devices that reduce noise and vibration, restraint systems that keep persons in their seats, software ensuring safety functions, and safety components with self-evolving machine-learning behaviour. Seven of the 20 entries are also categories in Annex I, which fixes the assessment route for them: the guards for removable transmission devices, presence-detecting devices, interlocking guards, logic units, ROPS, FOPS and the machine-learning safety components.

AI, self-evolving behaviour and cybersecurity in the safety requirements

The Regulation has no separate cybersecurity chapter. It puts the topic into two sections of Annex III, in plain terms:

Two more duties sit around those sections. The manufacturer makes the source code or programming logic of safety-related software available to a competent national authority on a reasoned request, where it is necessary to check compliance (Art. 10(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Annex IV, Part A, point (m)). For sensor-fed, remotely driven or autonomous machinery whose safety operations are controlled by sensor data, the technical documentation describes the general characteristics, capabilities and limitations of the system, and the data, development, testing and validation processes used (Annex IV, Part A, point (n)).

Safety components with machine-learning behaviour, and embedded machine-learning systems that ensure safety functions, are on Annex I, Part A, and so always go to a notified body (Art. 25(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Cyber Resilience Act applies in full from 11 December 2027, and its reporting duty (Article 14) has applied since 11 September 2026 (Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Art. 71(2)Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Cyber Resilience ActArticle 71, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Its recital 53 says that manufacturers of products that fall under both Regulations comply with both, and that meeting the Cyber Resilience Act can help to meet sections 1.1.9 and 1.2.1 of Annex III, though the manufacturer has to demonstrate that.

Which role you hold

An importer or distributor that sells under its own name or trademark, or modifies a machine already on the market in a way that can affect compliance, carries every manufacturer duty (Art. 17Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 17Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Anyone who carries out a substantial modification becomes the manufacturer, for that machine (Art. 18Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A substantial modification is one made by physical or digital means after placing on the market or putting into service, which the manufacturer did not foresee or plan, and which affects safety by creating a new hazard or increasing an existing risk, so that either guards or protective devices must be added in a way that changes the existing safety control system, or additional protective measures are needed for stability or mechanical strength (Art. 3(16)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 16Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That person declares conformity on its own responsibility and applies the procedure of Article 25Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. (Art. 18Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A non-professional user who modifies their own machine for their own use is not a manufacturer (Art. 18Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., third paragraph).

What each role owes

In short: the manufacturer builds the safety in and proves it; the importer makes sure the proof exists before the machine enters the EU; the distributor checks what is on the machine and in the box.

What a business outside the EU needs

An offer for sale online counts as making a product available on the EU market when it is targeted at end users in the EU. It is targeted if the operator directs its activities to an EU country by any means (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Art. 6Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation reaches a business outside the EU in two ways.

First, a business outside the EU that sells machines under its own name or trademark, or has them made for that purpose, is the manufacturer wherever it sits (Art. 3(18)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Second, a product subject to the machinery law may be placed on the market only if an economic operator established in the EU is responsible for four tasks: verifying that the declaration and the technical documentation exist and keeping the declaration for the authorities, handing information to an authority on a reasoned request, telling it where the product presents a risk, and cooperating on corrective action (Art. 4(1)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 4(3)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That operator is one of four: an EU manufacturer; an importer where the manufacturer is outside the EU; an authorised representative with a written mandate; or, where none of those exists, an EU fulfilment service provider for the products it handles (Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Its name and contact details, postal address included, go on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Art. 4(4)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The rule applies to products under the laws listed in Article 4(5)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., which names Directive 2006/42/ECDirective 2006/42/EC, Machinery Directive (consolidated text of 30 May 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. (Art. 4(5)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation states that references to the repealed Directive are read as references to it (Art. 51(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 51, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so the rule continues from 20 January 2027. It applies to machines for professionals as well as to those for consumers.

The Regulation itself lets a manufacturer appoint an authorised representative and does not force it to. The mandate cannot include the duty to design the machine to the requirements or to draw up the technical documentation (Art. 12(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 12, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Who can hold the EU role is in the EU Responsible Person, and how the roles with different names compare is in EU Authorised Representative.

What goes on the machine, in the box and on the listing

• The CE marking, visible, legible and indelible, on the machine. Where that is not possible or not warranted by the nature of the machine, on the packaging and the accompanying documents. Always before the machine is placed on the market or put into service (Art. 24(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 24(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). How the mark is drawn across all product laws is in CE marking. A pictogram or other marking for a special risk or use may follow it (Art. 24(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• The notified body number after the CE marking, where a notified body took part (Art. 24(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 24, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• The machine’s identity: model, series or type, year of construction and any batch or serial number (Art. 10(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and the full information relevant to its type and essential for safe use (Annex III, section 1.7.3).
• Who made it, and who imported it: the maker’s name and contact, postal address included (Art. 10(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 10, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and the importer’s own (Art. 13(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 13, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• The instructions and the declaration, as set out in the digital-instructions section above. Where several EU laws that require a declaration apply, one declaration covers them all (Art. 21(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 21, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The declaration follows the model of Annex V, Part A, and states that it is issued under the sole responsibility of the manufacturer.
• For partly completed machinery: the declaration of incorporation and the assembly instructions, with the statement that the machine must not be put into service until the final machinery has been declared in conformity (Art. 11(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 11, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 11(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 11, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Annex V, Part B, point 8).

On the listing, the General Product Safety Regulation applies its distance-sales rule to machines that consumers may use, because that Regulation covers only products meant for consumers or likely to be used by them (Regulation (EU) 2023/988, Art. 3(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine made for professionals and not likely to reach consumers is outside it. The offer must show the manufacturer’s name and postal and electronic address, the EU operator of Article 4(1)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. where the manufacturer is outside the EU, a picture and the type of the product, and the warnings and safety information, in a language consumers easily understand as the country of sale determines (Art. 19Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What the marketplaces ask for in their forms is in GPSR marketplace requirements. The Blue Guide, section 2.4, adds that “it is useful that the CE marking and any required warnings according to applicable legislation are indicated in that website and visible before the end user is carrying out the purchase.” The declaration, the technical documentation and the CE route in detail are in EU declaration of conformity.

Great Britain keeps its own machinery regulations, Northern Ireland follows the EU

The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 stay in force in England, Wales and Scotland. They implemented the Directive. S.I. 2026/867 does not repeal them in Great Britain: it amends regulations 1A, 2, 12A, 12B, 12C and 21(2)(b) and Schedule 5 (reg. 2), and the contents page of the 2008 Regulations lists those changes as outstanding. S.I. 2026/867 was made on 22 July 2026 and comes into force on 20 January 2027 (reg. 1(2)). It makes the 2008 Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland only (new reg. 1A).

What changes in Great Britain is the route that accepts EU-compliant machines. Today regulation 12A treats the 2008 requirements as met where the responsible person has met the Directive’s requirements, with the technical file, necessary information, declaration and records in English, and the CE marking affixed. From 20 January 2027 the new regulation 12A does the same against the Machinery Regulation: the machine must meet Annex III; the Annex IV, Part A, technical documentation must be drawn up, in English and available to the enforcement authorities for 10 years; the conformity procedure must be done, which is the Article 25(2) procedure for Annex I, Part A, and for Part B where there is no designated standard under regulation 11(1)(b)(ii) and the machine is built to an EU standard, and the Article 25(3) procedure for any other machine; the EU declaration of conformity must be drawn up, in English, and travel with the machine or be reachable by web address or code for 10 years; the information of Article 10(5) and (6) must be on the machine; the instructions must meet Article 10(7) and be in English; and the CE marking must be affixed under Article 24 (S.I. 2026/867, reg. 2(4)). Machinery placed on the market before that date under the old regulations 12A to 12C may still be made available in Great Britain (reg. 3).

In Northern Ireland the Machinery Regulation applies directly from 20 January 2027 under the Windsor Framework (explanatory note), and the 2008 Regulations are revoked there; machinery placed on the market in Northern Ireland or the EU before that date under them may continue to be made available there (reg. 15). The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and the district councils enforce it (reg. 9). Breaking the Regulation’s duties on manufacturers, importers and distributors is an offence, punishable on indictment by up to two years in prison or a fine, or both (reg. 12 and 13). Where a notified body established in the United Kingdom took part in the assessment, the UK(NI) indication goes next to the CE marking (reg. 5). A UK-based business selling into the EU follows the EU rules above and needs an EU operator under Article 4Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office..

What happens if you sell without it

Where an authority finds the CE marking affixed wrongly or not at all, the notified body number missing or wrong, the declaration missing or wrong, the technical documentation not available or not complete, or the manufacturer’s or importer’s details absent, false or incomplete, it requires the business to put an end to it. If that persists, it restricts or prohibits the machine, or has it recalled or withdrawn (Art. 46Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 46Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The same applies to a missing declaration of incorporation for partly completed machinery (Art. 46(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 46, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Where a machine presents a risk and does not comply, the authority requires corrective action within a period it sets. If the business does not act, or the risk persists, the authority has the machine withdrawn or recalled, or its sale prohibited or restricted, and informs the public, the Commission and the other EU countries (Art. 43(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 43, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 43(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 43, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A machine that complies but still presents a risk can also be withdrawn or recalled (Art. 45Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 45Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). These procedures have applied to machinery under the Directive since 19 July 2023 (Art. 52(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 52, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Each EU country sets the penalties. They must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, and may include criminal penalties for serious infringements (Art. 50(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 50, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The penalty rules apply from 20 October 2026 (Art. 54Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 54Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (b)).

What the law leaves open

• Harmonised standards under the Regulation. The list of harmonised standards under the Directive ends on 20 January 2027 (Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2015, Art. 2). The Commission’s page on machinery standards, which carries no date, says that a new Implementing Decision with the list under the Regulation “is being prepared” and that the first list “can be expected before the end of this year”. No such decision appeared in the Publications Office’s records as of 5 October 2026. That matters most for Annex I, Part B machines such as portable chainsaws: without category-specific harmonised standards or common specifications, the Regulation allows no module A for them (Art. 25(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 25, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Directive certificates after 2027. EC type-examination certificates issued under the Directive “shall remain valid until they expire” (Art. 52(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 52, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The text does not say whether such a certificate stands in for the Article 25Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. procedure for a unit placed from 20 January 2027, which must meet Annex III of the Regulation. Annex III has requirements the Directive lacks, such as protection against corruption of safety software (section 1.1.9).
• AI requirements. The Commission must add health and safety requirements for high-risk AI systems to Annex III by delegated acts that apply by 2 August 2028 (Art. 8Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., third and fourth paragraphs, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, Digital Omnibus on AIThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.). Until harmonised standards or common specifications exist for them, high-risk AI systems that comply with those of the AI Act are presumed to meet those requirements (Art. 20(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 20, paragraph 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Annex I can change. The Commission may add, withdraw or move categories by delegated act (Art. 6(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 6, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Own stock and fulfilment centres. The law counts a unit as placed at its first making available (Art. 3(12)Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (consolidated text of 27 July 2026)Article 3, point 12Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That own stock is not yet placed, and that stock released into an EU fulfilment centre is, comes from the Blue Guide, sections 2.3 and 2.4, which is Commission guidance.

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