The Basis of Machine Safety: Machinery Directive and CE mark

When the Machinery Directive (MD) was ratified in 1993, the aim was to remove trade barriers and enable a free internal market within Europe. After a two-year transition period, the Machinery Directive has been binding in Europe since 01.01.1995. It describes standardized health and safety requirements for interaction between man and machine and replaces the host of individual state regulations that existed on machinery safety. The new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC has applied since 29.12.2009.

The CE mark stands for “Communauté Européenne”. A manufacturer uses this mark to document the fact that he has considered all the European internal market directives that are relevant to his product and applied all the appropriate conformity assessment procedures. Products that carry the CE mark may be imported and sold without considering national regulations. That’s why the CE mark is also referred to as the “Passport to Europe”.

Generally speaking, all directives in accordance with the new concept (“new approach”) provide for CE marking. Where a product falls under the scope of several directives which provide for CE marking, the marking indicates that the product is assumed to conform with the provisions of all these directives.