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22/01/2013

EC Marking: Machinery and Partly Completed Machinery

The new Directive 2006/42/CE of the European Parliament has given a better definition of machinery as opposed to the previous Directive 98/37/CE and has introduced the term of “partly completed machinery” which was not mentioned before. In fact this definition was covered by the declaration of incorporation related to the machinery.

It is now clearly intended that the equipments which is equipped with a drive system is included in the machinery even though it is not supplied with the drive parts. Partly completed machinery means an assembly which is almost machinery but which cannot in itself perform a specific application. A drive system is partly completed machinery. Partly completed machinery is only intended to be incorporated into or assembled with other machinery or other partly completed machinery or equipment.

Because of its specific application which is to screen incoming materials, a rotary screener is usually considered a machinery even though it is not equipped with an engine or an electricity supply. If it must be equipped with control systems (i.e. the safety switches to limit the final position) it is considered a partly completed machinery.

As far as documents are concerned, both equipments need the instruction handbook and a declaration: The EC declaration of conformity for the machinery, that is to all EU Directives in force and the declaration of incorporation for the partly completed machinery. No EC marking must be applied to the partly completed machinery. The assembly instructions and the declaration of conformity for the incorporation of the partly completed machinery are not final documents. They shall accompany the partly completed machinery until it is incorporated into the final machinery and shall then form part of the technical file for that machinery. Furthermore, if on the one hand the machinery must be supplied with a technical file which includes, among others, the risk assessment, on the other hand the partly completed machinery must be supplied with the related technical instructions only. This is because it is the final machinery which shall include the technical file as well as the relevant instructions for its components. In conclusion, it is to be observed that the lack of the EC marking on the partly completed machinery is not a formality only. It implies a limited liability because the manufacturer shall no longer be obliged to prepare a risk assessment, besides, the technical file can be reduced and kept for a period of ten years from the last date of manufacture: