Machinery

EC Declaration of Conformity

In addition to the instructions, the machine must be accompanied with an EC declaration of conformity.

In the EC Declaration of Conformity, the machinery’s manufacturer or its authorised representative confirms by signature that the machinery complies with the essential health and safety requirements that apply to the machinery.

Once the declaration of conformity is prepared and signed, the CE marking can be affixed to the machinery and the machinery can be placed on the market. The declaration of conformity must accompany the machinery, for example, as an attachment to the operating instructions. In Finland, the declaration of conformity must be provided in Finnish and Swedish with the machinery, in addition to the original version.

The EC Declaration of Conformity must contain the following information:

• business name and full address of the manufacturer and, where appropriate, its authorised representative
• name and address of the person authorised to compile the technical file. This person must be established in the Community.
• description and identification of the machinery
• a sentence expressly declaring that the machinery fulfils all the relevant provisions of the Machinery Directive and, where appropriate, a similar sentence declaring the conformity with other directives or provisions
• where appropriate, the name, address and identification number of the notified body which carried out the EC type examination, and the number of the EC-type examination certificate (if the machinery is mentioned in annex IV)
• where appropriate, the name, address and identification number of the notified body which carried out the full quality assurance procedure (if the machinery is mentioned in annex IV)
• where appropriate, a reference to the harmonised standards used
• where appropriate, a reference to other technical standards and specifications used
• the place and date of the declaration
• the identity and signature of the person empowered to draw up the declaration on behalf of the manufacturer or its authorised representative.

When assessing the correctness of the machine’s EC Declaration of Conformity, you should pay particular attention to the following:

• the product’s identification data mentioned in the declaration corresponds to the data contained in the product itself
• the declaration was drawn up by the machinery’s manufacturer (note: if you market the machine under your own brand name, you will become the manufacturer of the machine)
• the declaration refers to the correct legislation (up-to-date Machinery Directive, in addition to other relevant directives or regulations such as EMC and RoHS for electric machines)
• the standard references are correct

The manufacturer of machinery or its authorised representative must keep the original EC Declaration of Conformity for a period of at least 10 years from the last date of manufacture of the machinery.

Watch a recording of Tukes’ I Know My Product webinar, Deep scan for machinery safety: reviewing the documents provided with the machinery: