EU Machinery Regulation vs Market Surveillance Regulation (MSR) Side-by-side comparison

The Machinery Regulation sets EU rules for machinery, related products and partly completed machinery so compliant products meet Annex III EHSRs and can move freely for the aspects covered by the Regulation.

MSR applies to products covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Annex I and to the extent that legislation lacks a more specific rule with the same objective. It sets the horizontal surveillance, cooperation, and border framework.

Start with the Machinery Regulation for the product-compliance answer, then use MSR for the responsible operator, authority response, market measures, and border process. Apply a more specific Machinery Regulation procedure where it controls the same issue.

Machinery Regulation duties sit with manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors, with different duties for machinery or related products and partly completed machinery.

MSR defines economic operators to include manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors, fulfilment service providers and others with obligations connected to manufacture, market availability or putting products into service; it also requires cooperation with market surveillance authorities.

Keep a role map that shows who owns the Machinery Regulation product file and who is the MSR response contact for authority requests, online sales, logistics and fulfilment facts.

Machinery compliance asks whether the product was designed and constructed to meet applicable Annex III EHSRs, whether the correct conformity assessment procedure was used, and whether the required declaration, instructions and CE marking are in place.

MSR asks whether products made available on the Union market comply with the applicable Union harmonisation law and whether the authority can obtain documents, product information, samples and corrective action when risk or non-compliance appears.

A finished conformity file is not the end of the workflow; it must be indexed so authorities can inspect the same EHSR, technical and declaration evidence quickly.

Machinery evidence should include the risk assessment, EHSR mapping, technical documentation, standards or common specifications relied on, conformity assessment route, EU declaration of conformity or incorporation, instructions, and change or corrective-action records.

MSR evidence should identify which Article 4 operator qualifies and why, show its name and contact details, and include declaration and technical-documentation availability, authority requests, supply-chain information, targeted online offers, sampling, and corrective measures.

Use one evidence index with separate tags; a risk assessment may support both sides, while an online-interface warning, border hold or authority request belongs mainly to the MSR response file.

The Machinery Regulation focuses on whether the product placed on the market or put into service meets machinery requirements and whether required instructions and declarations accompany or are accessible for the product.

MSR treats an online or other distance-sales offer as made available on the market only when it targets Union end users. Online-interface orders require a serious risk and no other effective means to eliminate it.

For online machinery sales, preserve language, currency, delivery area, advertising, fulfilment, and other targeting facts. Keep declaration and instruction access records, plus a proportionate warning or takedown procedure for an authority order.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 generally applies from 20 January 2027. Until then, Directive 2006/42/EC remains the machinery conformity basis for products first placed on the market before the changeover.

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 has generally applied since 16 July 2021. Its Article 4 operator, distance-sales, authority-cooperation, and border framework therefore already applies where the covered Union harmonisation legislation brings the product within scope.

Do not wait for 20 January 2027 to build the MSR response layer. Use the current Machinery Directive or later Machinery Regulation as the product-law basis, while keeping the Article 4 operator, online-offer, authority-response, corrective-action, and import-control records active now.

Under the Machinery Regulation, manufacturers, importers and distributors must act when machinery, related products or partly completed machinery are not in conformity; actions can include bringing the product into conformity, withdrawal or recall, and informing competent authorities when risk thresholds are met.

MSR defines corrective action and allows market surveillance authorities to require proportionate measures, including bringing the product into compliance, preventing availability, withdrawing or recalling it, warnings, user alerts, risk conditions, or rendering the product inoperable.

Corrective-action procedures should state both the product fix and the market measure: what changes in the technical file, what happens to stock and online offers, who notifies authorities, and how users or customers are warned.

Machinery Regulation surveillance is handled by market surveillance authorities using the Regulation's machinery-specific national procedure, Union safeguard procedure and formal non-compliance process.

MSR supplies the broader authority toolkit: designated market surveillance authorities, document and data requests, inspections, sampling, investigation powers, cooperation between authorities and customs-related controls.

Authority playbooks should identify the competent national authority, the product facts, the technical file owner, the notified body if involved, the MSR response contact and the communication channel used for the request.

Use the Machinery Regulation when the question is product scope, EHSR coverage, conformity assessment, technical documentation, declarations, instructions, CE marking, partly completed machinery or machinery-specific non-compliance.

Use MSR when the question is authority cooperation, responsible operator availability, online offer targeting, document production, market-surveillance powers, corrective market measures, product sampling, border controls or cross-border authority coordination.

When product non-compliance also requires a market measure, correct the product under the Machinery Regulation and manage the surveillance response under MSR.

The Machinery Regulation determines whether the machinery product itself is compliant and whether declarations, instructions, markings and technical documentation support placing it on the market.

MSR contains a separate chapter on controls for products entering the Union market and covers suspension or refusal of release for free circulation where authorities find serious risk or non-compliance.

For imported machinery, include customs and logistics records in the MSR pack, but keep the underlying compliance answer tied to the Machinery Regulation technical and conformity file.