European Commission Updates EU Machinery Harmonised Standards

Manufacturers can use the cited standards to obtain a presumption of conformity with the essential health and safety requirements they cover. Use remains voluntary. Citation does not remove a manufacturer's wider duties for risk assessment, technical documentation, conformity assessment, declarations and marking.

EU Machinery Harmonised Standards Now Cover Updated Technologies

The amendments add four references in Part Two of Annex I to Decision (EU) 2023/1586. These cover sound-power measurement, positioning of safeguards, guard interlocking devices and functional safety of safety-related control systems.

Part Three gains many product-specific references. The equipment includes lifts, palletising machinery, industrial trucks, robotic feed systems, agricultural and autonomous machinery, press brakes, industrial robots and robot cells, generating sets, woodworking machinery, cranes, crop-protection equipment, refrigerating systems, commercial food equipment, additive-manufacturing machines, and hand-held or garden power tools.

Examples include EN ISO 10218-1:2025 and EN ISO 10218-2:2025 for industrial robots and robot applications. The list also includes the EN ISO 18497 series for partially automated and autonomous agricultural machinery and EN ISO/ASTM 52938-1:2025 for laser-based powder-bed-fusion machines. Corrections to EN 13155:2020+A1:2025 for non-fixed lifting attachments and EN 14439:2025 for tower cranes are also reflected.

The Decision sets no chemical concentration limit or general exemption. Hazards and safeguards depend on the standard and machine. They can include noise, crushing, access to dangerous zones, control-system failure, autonomous operation, contamination and tool-specific mechanical risks.

Current Directive Route Ends On 20 January 2027

The amended citation list under Directive 2006/42/EC applies now. The Decision inserts new references but does not expressly delete the current rows that they update. Decision (EU) 2023/1586 and Annex I remain the operative citation instrument until their repeal on 20 January 2027.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 generally applies from that date and replaces the Directive. Decision (EU) 2026/2015 does not cite standards under the new Regulation. The Commission's planned re-citation exercise for that regime remains a separate step.

Manufacturers and importers should map the new references to products placed on the market before the transition. They should check which essential requirements each standard covers and update technical files when they adopt a newer standard. Distributors and industrial buyers should verify declarations and instructions without treating a newer standard number as proof of full compliance. Employers must keep workplace risk controls because product conformity does not replace duties for installation, use, maintenance or worker exposure.

The Decision improves the Directive-era conformity route only months before that route closes. This creates a risk that a technical-file update will not cover all evidence needed under the Machinery Regulation. Standards for robots, autonomous machinery and safety-related controls need close review because the new Regulation introduces requirements that a Directive citation might not fully address.

Businesses should create a product-by-standard matrix that shows current citations, requirements covered, design and test evidence, and separate evidence needed from 20 January 2027. They should follow the EU standardisation topic and the earlier Foresight analysis of planned Machinery Regulation re-citation.

Summary

Decision (EU) 2026/2015 provides an immediate conformity route under the current Machinery Directive. Businesses should use the updated citations where suitable, but plan each evidence update against the separate Machinery Regulation requirements that apply from 20 January 2027.