Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
The CE marking according to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, enacted as of 29/12/2009, represents a mandatory and obligatory requirement for the marketing of machinery within the European Union.
The CE marking of the machinery
The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC requires manufacturers to apply to the machine they produce the CE marking (Annex III) and to draft the CE Declaration of Conformity (Annex II) to certify that the essential safety and health care requirements defined in the same directive have been met.
The directive is applied to the following products:
- MACHINERY;
- INTERCHANGEABLE EQUIPMENT;
- SAFETY COMPONENTS;
- LIFTING ACCESSORIES;
- CHAINS, CABLES, AND BELTS;
- REMOVABLE DEVICES OF MECHANICAL TRANSMISSION;
- QUASI-MACHINE.
LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK
Art. I of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC identifies the equipment that must be considered “machinery” and establishes that the essential safety and health care requirements have been met. The machinery is controlled by applying one of the evaluation procedures described in Art. 12, which indicates the methods that the manufacturer has for being able to introduce his/her own products onto the market.
CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES
Annex IV of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC distinguishes two categories of machinery and potential marking processes:
The first category belongs to the machinery constructed in compliance with the essential safety requirements, partially applying the harmonised standards or not applying them at all.
The second category includes machinery constructed in full compliance with the pertinent harmonised standards, to the extent to which these standards cover all the pertinent RESS (Rechargeable energy storage system).
RECIPIENTS OF THE OBLIGATION
The manufacturer, in the first case, is obliged to request the intervention of a Notified Body to carry out, as an alternative:
- EC TYPE EXAMINATION (ANNEX IX)
- TOTAL QUALITY GUARANTEE PROCEDURE (ANNEX X)
- INTERNAL CONTROL ON CONSTRUCTION (ANNEX VIII)
For machinery NOT covered in Annex IV, the manufacturer can voluntarily subject the machine or the technical dossier to the verification of a Notified Body, which will then issue the certificate of compliance with applicable standards or the directive, useful for the CE marking and for marketing his/her own product.
Intervention of the Notified Body
ECO Certificazioni is Notified Body n. 0714 authorised by the Ministry of Economic Development, together with the Ministry of Labour, to issue, for the machinery listed in Annex IV, the CE certificate for the example examined or for the series (of type).
ECO relies on professional technicians that, thanks to a high level of competence, training and preparation, guarantee the client punctuality and quality, whether in providing the services inherent to the certification of the machinery or in meeting specific needs as expressed by the client.
Main fields of intervention
For protection structures ROPS, TOPS, FOPS, Front guard, like cabins and roll-bars, ECO carries out destructive tests on prototypes pursuant to the technical standards harmonised with the Machinery Directive.
A market leader in the testing and certification of personnel lifting devices or those for both people and objects, with a risk of a vertical drop of over 3 metres, ex. Elevating Work Platforms – EWP according to the EN 280 standard.
The EN 280 standard defines the technical requirements and safety measures for all types and for all sizes of elevating work platforms (MEWP), destined to transport people to work stations where they can fulfil their duties from the work platform (WP), with the intention of people accessing and leaving the work platform only from the access position at ground level or from the frame.
Holders of the ministerial authorisation to operate according to the requirements of standard EN 1493 – Lifts for vehicles.
The standard is applied to lifts for fixed, mobile, and movable vehicles not intended for the lifting of people, but designed to lift entire vehicles, for the purpose of facilitating inspection, maintenance, and repair works over and under the vehicle itself, while in an elevated position.
Machinery Directive Authorisation List
Following is the list of machinery for which ECO is authorised to issue CE certificates of conformity pursuant to Directive 2006/42/CE
1.1. Circular saws – saws with one or more blades in a fixed position during cutting, with a fixed table or support of the piece, manual feed of the piece, or with removable feed device;
1.2. Circular saws – saws with one or more blades in a fixed position during cutting, with a trestle or reciprocating motion trolley, with manual movement;
1.3. Circular saws – saws with one or more blades in a fixed position during cutting, equipped with an integrated device to feed the pieces to be sawed with manual loading and/or unloading;
1.4. Circular saws – saws with one or more blades that are mobile while cutting, integrated feed device, manual loading and/or unloading.
- Band saws with manual loading and/or unloading for woodworking and for working on materials with similar physical characteristics or for processing meat and materials with similar physical characteristics, of the following types:
4.1. Saws with one or more blades in fixed position during cutting, with a fixed table or support of the pieces or with reciprocating movement;
4.2. Saws with one or more blades assembled on a reciprocating motion trolley.
- Combined machinery of the types indicated in points 1 to 4 and point 7 for the processing of wood and materials with similar physical characteristics.
- Portable chain saws for cutting wood.
- Injection or compression moulders of plastic materials with manual loading or unloading.
- Injection or compression moulders of rubber with manual loading or unloading.
- Machinery for underground works of the following types:
12.1. locomotives and braking buckets;
12.2. hydraulic-powered roof supports.
- Domestic waste collection buckets with manual loading, equipped with a compression mechanism.
- Vehicle servicing lifts
- Devices for the lifting of people or people and objects, with the risk of a vertical drop of over 3 metres.
- Protection devices designed for detecting the presence of people.
- Automatic interlocked mobile guards to be used as a means of protection in the machines indicated in points 9, 10, and 11.
- Logical blocks for safety functions.
- Rollover protection structures (ROPS).
- Falling-Object Protective Structures (FOPS).