Seven Steps to a CE Mark: Part Six, Issue the Declaration of Conformity

By issuing the EC declaration of conformity, the manufacturer declares that they have considered all the  directives that apply to the product. The person signing an EC declaration of conformity must be authorized to represent his company. This means that the signatory is legally entitled to execute a legal transaction, such as signing the EC declaration of conformity, on account of their job function.

When an authorized employee of the company adds their valid signature to an EC declaration of conformity, they trigger the liability of the natural responsible person and, if applicable, the company as a legal entity.

The declaration may also be signed by an authorized representative, who is established in the EU.

The new Machinery Directive requires the declaration to name the person authorized to compile the technical documentation. This person must be established in the EU.

CE Marking of Plant and Machinery, The Basics

According to the Machinery Directive, a machine manufacturer is anyone who assembles machines or machine parts of various origins and places them on the market. A manufacturer may be the actual machine builder or – where a machine is modified – the operator. In the case of assembled machinery, it may be the manufacturer, an assembler, the project manager, an engineering company or the operator himself, who assembles a new installation from various machines, so that the different machine parts constitute a new machine.

However, according to the Machinery Directive, only one manufacturer is responsible for the design and manufacture of the machine. This manufacturer or his authorized representative takes responsibility for implementing the administrative procedures for the entire plant. The manufacturer may appoint an authorized representative, who must be established in the EU, to assume responsibility for the necessary procedures for placing the product on the market:

• Compiling the plant’s technical documentation
• Complying with the technical annex
• Providing operating instructions for the plant
• Affixing the CE mark in a suitable position on the plant and drawing up a declaration of conformity for the entire plant