The placement on the market of new machinery in the European market is regulated by the 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive. The provisions of the Directive were transposed in the Cyprus legislation with the Essential Requirements (Machinery) Regulations of 2008 (R.A.A. 428/2006). The text of the Regulations as amended, is available at the following links:
· the Essential Requirements (Machinery) Regulations of 2008
· the Essential Requirements (Machinery) (Amending) Regulations of 2011
· the Essential Requirements (Machinery) (Amending) Regulations of 2012
The Regulations specify the design, manufacture and placement on the market of safe machinery and safety accessories in order to ensure a high level of protection of the users of such machinery and other persons that could be affected by the operation of same.
This level of protection is achieved by complying with the essential safety and health requirements that apply to the particular machinery, and by implementing a conformity assessment procedure.
Vehicles that are machinery
Vehicles that at the same time are considered machinery constitute a large group of the whole family of machinery. This group of machinery, due to the nature of the work for which they are intended, are considered high risk with respect to the users and third persons. As such, the implementation of the essential safety and health requirement is a key element that safeguards the safe operation and user protection.
Examples of this group of machinery can be found in the Table including
photographs for each machinery category.
The usage of this group of machinery is frequent by the local authorities, either by utilising their fleet of such machinery or by purchasing the same services from the private sector. For this reason and on the basis of the above statements, the Department of Labour Inspection sent a
letter to all Cyprus Municipalities that explains the provisions of the Machinery legislation for this group of machinery.
Machinery Guide
The European Commission issued a
Guide to ensure that the Machinery Directive is interpreted and implemented uniformly. This is accomplished by providing explanations of the provisions of the Directive. The explanations of the essential safety and health requirements, which are included in Annex I of the Directive, constitute the biggest part of the Guide.
The Guide is primarily addressed to the stakeholders such as manufacturers, importers, distributors and Notified Bodies. However, it is also of interest to members of standardisation committees and members of protection of occupational safety and health organisations as well as consumers protection organisations.
The Guide also covers machinery market surveillance issues and includes other useful tools such as:
· Concise presentation of other applicable Directives apart from the Machinery Directive
· Concise flowchart of the procedure for partially completed machinery
· Flowchart of the organisations that relate to the Machinery Directive
· Flowchart of ergonomic related parameters.
The Guide is not legally binding.
Used machinery
The import of used machinery in the European Union from third countries is allowed
only if the machinery complies with the provisions of the Machinery Directive. It should be noted that the import of machinery, either used or new, that was manufactured in a third country and does not meet the provisions of the Machinery Directive
is prohibited. In order to allow the import of the machinery in question, first it must be upgraded to the level required by the Directive.
Used machinery within the European Union that comply with the Machinery Directive, can freely circulate.
For certain categories of used machinery such as mobile cranes, a member state may conditionally allow the import on the basis, for example, of a recent certificate of examination and testing of the crane by a third-party inspection body.
Personal Mobility Devices known as scooters or e-scooters
Personal Mobility Devices fall within the scope of the Machinery Directive and when placed on the market they must be CE marked with the model and manufacturer's details and accompanied by an EC Declaration of Conformity and instructions for use in Greek. 'Personal mobility device' is defined as a self-propelled structure, powered by any form of energy, capable of carrying a person, for the propulsion of which the equipment has a steering wheel and at least one drive axle and at least two wheels.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Department of Labour Inspection
Last updated 1.8.2020