Key changes to the Regulations on Machinery and Mechanisms.

The most significant change to the Machinery Regulation concerns its legal status, as from 20 January 2027 it will become directly applicable legislation across all EU countries.

One of the key changes to the Machinery Regulation is the change in legal form from a directive to a regulation. The previous Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC required national implementation, which sometimes led to differing interpretations and application practices across Member States. However, as a regulation, the Machinery Regulation constitutes directly applicable legislation, uniform across all European Union countries without national amendments. This change reduces the administrative burden and makes the regulation more predictable for companies.

The Machinery Regulation has introduced the new concept of a ‘substantial modification’, which refers to a physical or digital change to a machine that was neither planned nor intended by the original manufacturer. This concept also applies to defects affecting the safety of the machine, creating new hazards or increasing preventable risks.

The changes also affect safety components, as previously the focus was on physical safety devices such as emergency stop switches and safety relays. Following the update to the regulation, it will cover software that has a direct impact on the safety functions of the machine. This change is significant because, with the development of modern technologies, software plays an increasingly important role in the control of machines.