EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 from 14 January 2027: What the Text Says About Importers of Powered Equipment Installed in Buildings

Powered equipment such as automatic gates, barriers, shutters and motorised furniture can appear on a project schedule that is shipped from China to the EU. The EU’s rules for machinery are changing: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 repeals the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and applies from 14 January 2027. It sets health and safety requirements for the design and construction of machinery, puts duties on manufacturers, importers and distributors, and requires an EU declaration of conformity and the CE marking.

This article reads the Regulation as published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L 165, 29 June 2023, p. 1), in the text we downloaded from the EU Publications Office on 17 October 2026. The published text is also available on EUR-Lex. We quote or closely paraphrase the text. It is a reading for procurement planning, not legal advice, and it does not decide whether any particular product is machinery. We did not read Annex III, which sets out the essential health and safety requirements, or any harmonised standard or Commission guidance, and we do not set out penalties, which Article 50 leaves to the Member States. Later amendments, if any, are not reflected.

When the Regulation applies: Articles 51, 52 and 54

Article 54 says that the Regulation enters into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal and that it “shall apply from 14 January 2027”. It then lists earlier dates for particular Articles: Articles 26 to 42, which deal with notified bodies, from 14 January 2024; Article 50(1), on penalties, from 14 October 2023; Article 6(7) and Articles 48 and 52 from 13 July 2023; and Article 6(2) to (6), (8) and (11) and Articles 47 and 53(3) from 14 July 2024.

Article 51(2) repeals Directive 2006/42/EC with effect from 14 January 2027. Article 52(1) adds a transition rule: Member States “shall not impede the making available on the market of products which were placed on the market in conformity with Directive 2006/42/EC before 14 January 2027”. Article 52(2) keeps EC type-examination certificates and approval decisions issued under Article 12 of the Directive valid until they expire.

For a project schedule, the words that matter are “placed on the market”. Article 3(12) defines placing on the market as “the first making available of a product within the scope of this Regulation on the Union market”. The transition rule in Article 52(1) is written around that moment, and not around the date of the order or the date of the contract. Ask the maker which of the two sets of rules it is working to for each item, and keep the answer with the quotation.

What the Regulation covers: Articles 1 to 3

Article 1 says the Regulation lays down health and safety requirements for the design and construction of machinery, related products and partly completed machinery, so that they can be made available on the market or put into service. Article 2(1) applies it to machinery and to five kinds of related products: interchangeable equipment, safety components, lifting accessories, chains, ropes and webbing, and removable mechanical transmission devices. It also applies to partly completed machinery. Together these are called “products within the scope of this Regulation”.

Article 3(1) defines machinery. Point (a) is an assembly fitted with, or intended to be fitted with, a drive system other than directly applied human or animal effort, consisting of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, and which are joined together for a specific application. Point (b) is such an assembly missing only the components to connect it on site or to sources of energy and motion. Point (c) is an assembly of that kind “ready to be installed and able to function as it stands only if mounted on a means of transport, or installed in a building or a structure”. Point (d) covers assemblies of machinery or of partly completed machinery that are arranged and controlled so that they function as an integral whole. Point (e) covers a lifting assembly whose only power source is directly applied human effort, and point (f) covers an assembly that is missing only the uploading of the software intended for its application.

Point (c) is the reason equipment installed in buildings is part of this discussion. It does not name any product. A search of the full text we downloaded finds no use of the words “door”, “turnstile”, “shutter” or “escalator”, and the word “gate” appears once, in the name of the Safety Gate Rapid Alert System. The Regulation therefore does not tell a buyer whether an automatic gate, a shutter or a turnstile is machinery. That depends on whether the exact product meets the definition in Article 3(1) and is not excluded by Article 2(2), and the first analysis belongs to the manufacturer.

What Article 2(2) leaves out

Article 2(2) lists products to which the Regulation does not apply. They include safety components supplied as identical spare parts by the manufacturer of the original machinery; equipment for fairgrounds or amusement parks; nuclear installations; weapons; means of transport by air, water and rail networks, except for machinery mounted on them; aeronautical products; motor vehicles and their trailers; two- and three-wheel vehicles; agricultural and forestry tractors; seagoing vessels; military and police machinery; research machinery for temporary use in laboratories; mine winding gear; and machinery intended to move performers during artistic performances.

Point (p) lists electrical and electronic products, insofar as they fall within Directive 2014/35/EU or Directive 2014/53/EU: household appliances intended for domestic use “which are not electrically operated furniture”, audio and video equipment, information technology equipment, ordinary office machinery (except additive printing machinery for producing three-dimensional products), low-voltage switchgear and control gear, and electric motors. Point (q) lists high-voltage switchgear and control gear and transformers.

The wording of point (p)(i) matters to furniture buyers. It excludes household appliances intended for domestic use, but it carves electrically operated furniture out of that exclusion. The Regulation does not list motorised furniture either, so for a motorised bed base, a lift chair or a height-adjustable table the question is the same as for a gate: has the manufacturer assessed the exact product against Article 3(1) and Article 2(2)? Ask for the answer in writing.

Manufacturer, importer or distributor: Articles 3, 12 and 17

Article 3(18) defines a manufacturer as a person who manufactures products within the scope of the Regulation, or has them designed or manufactured, and markets them under its own name or trademark, or who manufactures them and puts them into service for its own use. Article 3(20) defines an importer as a person “established within the Union who places a product within the scope of this Regulation from a third country on the Union market”. Article 3(21) defines a distributor as a person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a product available on the market.

Article 17 moves duties between these roles. An importer or distributor is considered a manufacturer, and is subject to the manufacturer’s obligations in Articles 10 and 11, where it places a product within the scope of the Regulation on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already on the market in such a way that compliance with the applicable requirements might be affected. A buyer that brands equipment from a Chinese maker as its own is therefore reading Article 10 as well as Article 13.

Article 12 allows a manufacturer to appoint an authorised representative by written mandate. The text says that the manufacturer’s duties in Article 10(1) and Article 11(1), and the duty to draw up the technical documentation in Annex IV, are not part of the representative’s mandate. The mandate must allow the representative at least to keep the technical documentation and the declaration at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities for at least 10 years, to provide information on a reasoned request and to cooperate with the authorities.

What the manufacturer must do before the product goes on the market: Article 10

Article 10 sets the manufacturer’s duties. Read as a list for a quotation, they are these.

• Design and construction: the product is designed and constructed in accordance with the essential health and safety requirements in Annex III (Article 10(1)).
• Documentation and assessment: the manufacturer draws up the technical documentation in Annex IV, Part A, carries out the conformity assessment procedure in Article 25, and, where conformity has been shown, draws up the EU declaration of conformity and affixes the CE marking (Article 10(2)).
• Keeping records: the technical documentation and the declaration are kept at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities for at least 10 years after the product is placed on the market or put into service (Article 10(3)).
• Identification on the product: at least a designation of the model, series or type, the year of construction and any batch or serial number, on the product or, where that is not possible, on the packaging or in an accompanying document (Article 10(5)).
• Contact details: the manufacturer’s name, registered trade name or trade mark and postal address, with a website, e-mail address or other digital contact, in a language easily understood by users and market surveillance authorities (Article 10(6)).
• Instructions for use: instructions and the information set out in Annex III accompany the product and describe the product model they correspond to. They may be digital, but a digital copy must be printable, downloadable and available online for the expected lifetime of the product and for at least 10 years after it is placed on the market. At the user’s request at the time of purchase, a paper copy must be provided free of charge within one month. For products intended for or reasonably usable by non-professional users, the essential safety information must be provided in paper format (Article 10(7)).
• Declaration: the EU declaration of conformity accompanies the product, or the instructions give an internet address or machine-readable code where it can be accessed, and a digital declaration must stay online for the same period (Article 10(8)).

What the importer must do: Article 13

Article 13 is the article an importer reads. Its paragraphs say that importers:

• place only compliant machinery or related products on the market (Article 13(1));
• before placing a product on the market, ensure that the manufacturer has carried out the conformity assessment procedure in Article 25, has drawn up the technical documentation in Annex IV, Part A, that the product bears the CE marking and is accompanied by the required documents, and that the manufacturer has complied with Article 10(5), (6) and (8); where an importer considers or has reason to believe that a product is not in conformity, it does not place it on the market until it has been brought into conformity, and where the product presents a risk it informs the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities (Article 13(2));
• indicate their own name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal address and a website, e-mail address or other digital contact on the product or, where that is not possible, on the packaging or in an accompanying document, in a language easily understood by users and market surveillance authorities (Article 13(3));
• ensure the product is accompanied by the instructions for use and the information referred to in Article 10(7) (Article 13(4));
• ensure that storage or transport conditions, while the product is under their responsibility, do not jeopardise conformity with the essential health and safety requirements (Article 13(5));
• where appropriate with regard to the risks, carry out sample testing, investigate and, if necessary, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls (Article 13(6));
• take corrective action immediately, or withdraw or recall the product, where they consider or have reason to believe that a product they placed on the market is not in conformity, and inform the competent national authorities where there is a risk (Article 13(7));
• for at least 10 years after the product has been placed on the market, keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities and ensure that the technical documentation in Annex IV, Part A, can be made available to those authorities on request (Article 13(8));
• on a reasoned request from a competent national authority, provide all information and documentation needed to demonstrate conformity, in a language that authority can easily understand, and cooperate with it (Article 13(9)).

Article 19 adds that economic operators must, on request, identify to the market surveillance authorities any operator who supplied them with a product and any operator they supplied, and must keep that information for at least 10 years.

Conformity assessment, the declaration and the CE marking: Articles 21, 24 and 25

Article 25 sets three routes. Where the category of product is listed in Annex I, Part A, the manufacturer applies one of three procedures: EU type-examination (module B) followed by conformity to type based on internal production control (module C); conformity based on full quality assurance (module H); or conformity based on unit verification (module G). Where the category is listed in Annex I, Part B, the manufacturer applies internal production control (module A), or one of the procedures that apply to Part A. If it chooses module A, it has to design and construct the product in accordance with harmonised standards or common specifications specific to that category and covering all the relevant essential health and safety requirements; if it did not, it has to use one of the other procedures. Where the category is not listed in Annex I, Article 25(4) requires the internal production control procedure (module A), set out in Annex VI.

Annex I, Part A lists six categories, among them vehicle servicing lifts and safety components with self-evolving behaviour using machine learning approaches that ensure safety functions. Annex I, Part B lists 19 categories, among them woodworking machines of named types, presses for the cold working of metals, “devices for the lifting of persons or of persons and goods involving a hazard of falling from a vertical height of more than 3 m”, “protective devices designed to detect the presence of persons” and “logic units to ensure safety functions”. Whether any product on a building project falls within a listed category is for the manufacturer’s analysis and your adviser.

Under Article 21, the EU declaration of conformity states that the essential health and safety requirements in Annex III have been shown to be fulfilled. It follows the model structure in Annex V, Part A, must be continuously updated and must be translated into the language or languages required by the Member State in which the product is placed on the market, made available or put into service. Where a product is subject to more than one Union act that requires a declaration, a single declaration covers them all. By drawing it up, the manufacturer assumes responsibility for the compliance of the product.

Article 24 requires the CE marking to be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly, or, where that is not possible or not warranted, to the packaging and the accompanying documents, and before the product is placed on the market or put into service. Where certain procedures in Article 25 were used, the CE marking is followed by the identification number of the notified body involved. The marking may be followed by a pictogram or another marking indicating a special risk or use.

Questions to put to the maker before production

The classification decision comes before the paperwork, so these are the questions we would put in writing for each powered item code that is going to the EU.

• Has the maker assessed the exact product against the definition of machinery in Article 3(1) and the exclusions in Article 2(2), and can it state the result and its basis in writing?
• If the product is machinery or a related product, which procedure under Article 25 has been used, and was a notified body involved?
• Which company is named as manufacturer on the product and on the declaration, where is it established and who is the importer in the Union?
• Will the product carry the model or type designation, the year of construction and a batch or serial number, and the CE marking, as Articles 10(5) and 24 describe?
• Will the EU declaration of conformity and the instructions for use be supplied for the exact model, in the language of the destination Member State, and where will digital copies be hosted for at least 10 years?
• Who keeps the technical documentation and the declaration for at least 10 years, and how can they be produced to an authority on request?
• For items that will be placed on the market on or after 14 January 2027, which rules does the maker work to, and what does the quotation say about changes between the two sets of rules?

What the text does not say

The Regulation does not list gates, doors, shutters, turnstiles or furniture by name, does not say that any of them is or is not machinery, and does not give a buyer a way to classify a product other than the definitions and the lists in Articles 2 and 3 and Annex I. It leaves penalties to the Member States under Article 50. Article 21(3) provides for a single declaration where a product is subject to more than one Union act that requires one. For gates and turnstiles in a building, see our guides to turnstile and speed gate manufacturers and automatic and revolving door manufacturers. For other product-safety rules that reach furniture and building products in the EU, see our readings of the General Product Safety Regulation and the Construction Products Regulation.

Questions buyers ask about the EU Machinery Regulation

When does Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 apply?

Article 54 says it applies from 14 January 2027, with earlier dates for some Articles, and Article 51(2) repeals Directive 2006/42/EC with effect from the same date. Article 52(1) says Member States shall not impede products that were placed on the market in conformity with the Directive before that date.

Is a turnstile or an automatic gate machinery under the Regulation?

The text does not name either. Whether a particular product is machinery depends on the definition in Article 3(1) and the exclusions in Article 2(2), and the first analysis is the manufacturer’s. Ask the maker to state its assessment of the exact product in writing.

Does the Regulation reach electrically operated furniture?

Article 2(2)(p)(i) excludes household appliances for domestic use “which are not electrically operated furniture”, which leaves electrically operated furniture outside that particular exclusion. The Regulation does not list motorised furniture, so the manufacturer has to assess the exact product.

Who has to keep the documentation?

The manufacturer keeps the technical documentation and the declaration for at least 10 years under Article 10(3). An importer keeps a copy of the declaration and ensures the technical documentation can be made available for at least 10 years under Article 13(8).

How does FBM Sourcing support this kind of project?

We review the brief, collect comparable quotations and manage the package for the project. For suppliers you nominate, we charge a 5% commission; for products we source for you, we quote a direct price. Our own team performs one inspection after bulk production is complete and before shipment, and the client’s project team is welcome to attend.

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