box item on second-hand machinery, p14). This directive
harmonised the level of safety of products designed and
produced by different manufacturers. Already installed
machines were outside the scope of the Directive, but all
machinery employed in factories, regardless of how it is
obtained, falls within the UK’s national safety regime –
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations
(PUWER) introduced in 1992 and subsequently updated in
1998 (and itself derived from another European Directive,
2009/104/EC). To be clear, PUWER applies whether a
machine is CE marked or not, while the responsibility of
companies using machinery and equipment stretches
further than merely asking for CE, or UKCA, marking.
For many end users of new machinery it is, perhaps,
enough to know that UKCA=CE, in the sense that a
machine marked as such has been deemed safe, either
by a Noti ed Body or via a self-certi cation process (but
PUWER also applies, as already stated). However, an
appreciation of the subject is likely to be of interest to end
users wishing to understand why they see three possible
marking combinations – CE alone, UKCA alone, or CE and
UKCA together – on machines they buy at various times.
For those manufacturing, distributing, importing and/or
exporting, the subject is more involved, of course.
To help explain the situation, the Engineering And
Machinery Alliance (EAMA) put on a webinar recently
( www.is.gd/diyena ), with representatives from the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(BEIS) in attendance. EAMA is a non-sectoral organisation
whose members work across multiple industrial areas.
MACH exhibition organiser and representative body the
Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) is an
EAMA member, for example, and many of the MTA’s
members supply metalcutting or metalworking machine
tools, which fall within scope of this new safety
compliance/marking regime.
“The webinar is part of a programme to get business
ready for what’s going to happen at the end of the Brexit
transition period at the end of this year,” explained Jack
Semple, EAMA president, as he opened the online
gathering, adding: “Firms need to be considering both
what’s going to be happening immediately and what
they’re being given a bit of time to prepare for past
January 2021.”
Speaking for BEIS, Terry Boniface, assistant director of
electronics and machinery, opened with: “I think the
biggest risk, really, to the end of the transition period is
lack of preparedness by traders, either in the UK or in the
EU. There are a few misconceptions about what will be
amended by the EU Free Trade Agreement, if that’s
actually landed by the UK government. UKCA marking will
come into force, regardless of a deal with the European
Union.” So, there will be no last-minute change, clearly.
The government’s website ( www.is.gd/uwipac ) on
matters UKCA dryly states what will be required under the
new regime. “You will need to use the new UKCA marking
immediately after 1 January 2021, if all of the following
apply to your product: it is for the GB market; it is covered
by legislation that requires the UKCA marking; it requires
mandatory third-party conformity assessment by a
Noti ed Body; and where conformity assessment has
been carried out by a UK conformity assessment body and
you haven’t transferred your conformity assessment les
from your UK body to an EU-recognised body before
1 January 2021.”
Digivims /stock.adobe.com
LEAD FEATURE MACHINERY SAFETY LEGISLATION CHANGE
On the border
Wording in ‘Guidance to the Machinery Directive’ ( www.is.gd/vijudo ):
The authorities in charge of the external border controls shall suspend release
of machinery for free circulation within the EU in the following cases:
If complete machinery does not bear the CE marking and the other
markings required by the Machinery Directive or has been af xed with the CE
marking in a false or misleading manner, or is not accompanied by the EC
Declaration of Conformity signed by the manufacturer or his Authorised
Representative
If there is cause to believe that the machinery presents a serious risk to
health and safety
www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets | December 2020 11
/diyena
/uwipac
/stock.adobe.com
/vijudo
/www.machinery.co.uk