CE marking

By affixing the CE mark the manufacturer declares that the product complies with all applicable EU legislation. It is a declaration on the manufacturer’s own responsibility, not a test seal and not a quality mark. For most machinery no independent body checks; the manufacturer assesses conformity and is liable for it being correct.

For machinery the legal basis is the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. From 20 January 2027 the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies in its place, directly in all member states.

The conformity assessment procedure follows a fixed order. It starts with the design, not after it.

The technical file includes the description of the machine, drawings and circuit diagrams, the risk assessment, calculations and test results, the standards applied and the operating instructions. It is not supplied with the machine but must be kept for ten years and presented to market surveillance authorities on request.

Without the file, conformity cannot be demonstrated – the mark on the nameplate alone proves nothing.

Partly completed machinery – a drive system, for example, or an assembly that can perform a specific application only once incorporated into a machine – does not receive CE marking under machinery law but a declaration of incorporation and assembly instructions. Whoever links several machines into a line becomes the manufacturer of the assembly and assesses its interfaces.

Machinery built for one’s own use is also covered. And whoever substantially modifies an existing machine takes on the manufacturer’s duties for the modified machine.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 keeps the basic principle. New elements include requirements on protection against corruption and on systems with self-evolving behaviour, an explicit rule on substantial modification and the option of providing instructions digitally. For manufacturers this mainly means moving the declaration of conformity and the documentation to the new legal basis in good time.