The Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) concerns machinery and certain parts of machinery. Its main intent is to ensure a common safety level in machinery placed on the market or put in service in all EU Member States and to ensure freedom of movement within the EU.
The well-functioning of the Internal Market for the free movement of products, as well as health and safety aspects on construction work sites are two major issues dealt with by FIEC.
The European Commission is planning to revise this Directive in 2021. The planned revision of the Directive intends to: align the Directive with EU harmonised legislation on product health and safety; and tackle the challenges that may arise from technical progress in digitalisation.
The forthcoming modifications in the legislation might have important impact in terms of responsibility of contractors in the case of any necessary adaptation of the machines or in the case of accidents, for instance.
In general, better cooperation with the manufacturers is sought regarding the user manuals, advanced information on the machines, ownership / treatment of the generated data, etc.
In order to better follow this important issue, FIEC has set up a specific informal working group involving both its Social (health and safety aspects) and Technical (norms and technical aspects) Commissions.
In parallel, FIEC is already participating in the Machinery Expert Group of the European Commission and provides input and feedback.
Check out here FIEC latest Position Paper on this topic.