After 6 months of discussions, the trilogue on the Machinery Regulation, which will replace Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, closed successfully on 15th December, with a provisional agreement reached between the Council and the European Parliament.

The current Machinery Directive is the core European legislation regulating the design and the manufacture of products of the mechanical engineering industries to ensure their safe use at workplaces. “Machinery products” are defined as powered equipment fitted with a tool to carry out specific tasks. Agricultural machinery falling under this category can range from portable pesticide application equipment to harvester machines and trailers. Agricultural tractors are excluded from the Machinery Directive’s scope.

The provisional agreement will now be subject to approval by the Council and the European Parliament. The Machinery Regulation will be applicable 42 months after its entry into force.

Here an overview of the main items subject to discussions during the three trialogue meetings in the fall of 2022:

  • Empowering the Commission to develop a Common specification in case there is no harmonised standard developed on a specific product.
  • List of machinery subject to a specific conformity assessment in Annex I of the Regulation. An agreement was reached to split the annex in two parts: Part A will cover products with mandatory third-party validation and Part B for products where self‑compliance is allowed, subject to the compliance with a harmonised standard covering all the significant hazards related to the product. The content of Part A raised several rounds of discussions, and the final agreement foresees that six categories of machinery will be subject to third-party certification. The methodology and the criteria to assess the need to update the list of products of Annex I were also clarified.
  • Use of digital documentation: it was agreed that digital instructions will be the default option with a possibility for the customer to ask for a paper version. Nevertheless, basic safety information will have to be provided with every product.
  • Applicability: as mentioned, the Regulation will apply 42 months after its entry into force. This is an important achievement for the industry and an improvement over the 30 months proposed by the Commission, considering the time required to update the existing harmonised standards covering the specific technical requirements.

The final version of the text is not yet available.

CEMA, who has been following the file from the start, will closely scrutinize the final text agreed upon and assess the impact on the agricultural machinery industry.

The official press releases from the Parliament and the Council can be consulted here and here. The European Commission also expressed satisfaction on the agreement, and the press release is available here.

Below is a summary of the work done over the last twenty months on the Machinery Regulation: 

WORK AT EUROPEAN COMMISSION LEVEL

21 April 2021

Release by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION of the proposal for a Regulation on Machinery Products

 

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

EUROPEAN COUNCIL

 

Preparation of compromise amendments, prepared by IMCO Committee

(with the opinion of the EMPL Committee)

Preparation of the Draft Compromise                                                        

3 May 2022

Vote on Compromise Amendments by IMCO Committee

18-19 May 2022

Vote on Compromise Amendments at the plenary session

21 June 2022

 

Release of a Draft Compromise

 

TRILOGUE DISCUSSIONS

15 July 2022

Start of the trilogue discussions

15 December 2022

Last meeting expected before provisional political agreement (first reading)

Q1 2023

Publication of the Regulation