EU Machinery Regulation Timeline and Transition

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 was published on 29 June 2023, entered into force on 19 July 2023, and generally applies from 20 January 2027. Use the corrected and amended EUR-Lex record: a 4 July 2023 corrigendum changed several dates, Regulation (EU) 2024/2748 added internal-market-emergency provisions from 29 May 2026, and Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 amended the machinery and AI regimes from 27 July 2026.

The earlier application dates concern specific provisions, not general permission to place a product under the Regulation. For the transition itself, products placed on the market in conformity with Directive 2006/42/EC before 20 January 2027 may continue to be made available. From 19 July 2023, Chapter VI of the Regulation applies to those products instead of Article 11 of the Directive, including safeguard procedures already started under Article 11.

The key fact is the first EU market placement of the unit, not its design freeze, manufacture, order, shipment, customs arrival, or later resale. Putting into service is the first intended use in the Union of machinery or a related product, which matters for machinery built for a manufacturer's own use or otherwise first used without a prior market supply.

A conforming product placed on the market under Directive 2006/42/EC before 20 January 2027 can continue through the distribution chain after that date. A new unit first placed on the market, or machinery or a related product first put into service, from 20 January 2027 must use the Regulation where it applies. A model name, purchase order, or batch plan does not establish that every unit crossed the legal threshold on the same date.

Article 52 says EC type-examination certificates and approval decisions issued under Article 12 of Directive 2006/42/EC remain valid until they expire. That continuity does not replace the separate product-by-product decision about the applicable law, technical documentation, declaration, instructions, and conformity route.

Standards also need a separate record. Presumption of conformity under the Regulation depends on a harmonised standard reference, or part of it, published in the Official Journal for the requirements it covers. A standard used in a Directive file does not automatically create presumption under the Regulation. Record the exact edition, Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) citation status, covered essential health and safety requirements, restrictions, and withdrawal date.

Keep a dated transition register that lets a reviewer reconstruct the decision. Identify the product and configuration, whether it is machinery, a related product, or partly completed machinery, the manufacturer and other economic operators, the first EU placement or putting-into-service evidence, the Directive or Regulation basis, and every open condition.

Link the register to the risk assessment, essential health and safety requirement mapping, exact standards references, verification results, conformity procedure, technical documentation, instructions, declaration of conformity or incorporation, CE marking check where applicable, certificate status, and change log. State assumptions and unresolved issues instead of recording them as settled facts.