What changes on 20 January 2027: the Machinery Regulation in one page

This is general information about Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, verified as at 12 July 2026, not legal advice. Confirm anything you act on with the Regulation text and, where required, a notified body.

The date, and why it is a hard line

Directive 2006/42/EC is repealed and replaced on 20 January 2027. A Regulation, unlike a Directive, applies directly in every member state without national transposition, so the same text binds a manufacturer in Milan, Munich and Malmö on the same day. There is no dual-application window: machinery placed on the market or put into service before 20 January 2027 is dealt with under the Directive, and from that date new placings on the market must comply with the Regulation.

"Placed on the market" is the first making available of an individual unit, so a machine already sold before the date does not have to be re-assessed against the Regulation. The date is a deadline for what you place on the market from then on, not a recall trigger for units already out there.

What stays the same

The CE-marking spine is unchanged. To place machinery on the EU market you still: assemble the technical documentation (the technical file), carry out the applicable conformity assessment, draw up and sign the EU declaration of conformity, affix the CE marking, and provide instructions for use and safety information. If you self-certify machinery that is not high-risk today, you will largely keep doing so.

What changes

• Annex I replaces Annex IV, and Part A removes self-declaration. The list of high-risk machinery is now split into Part A and Part B. For the six Part A categories a notified body is always involved and you cannot self-declare, even if you applied harmonised standards. That option existed under the Directive and is gone. See the Annex I guide.
• Self-evolving and AI safety functions are now high-risk. Safety components and embedded systems with fully or partially self-evolving behaviour using machine learning sit in Part A. This is a genuinely new category. See self-evolving safety functions.
• Digital instructions are allowed. Instructions for use and the EU declaration of conformity may be supplied digitally where a risk assessment supports it, with a paper copy free on request within one month, and safety information still on paper for non-professional use. See digital instructions.
• Substantial modification transfers manufacturer duties. A change made after a machine is on the market that creates a new hazard or increases risk makes the modifier the manufacturer of the modified machine. See substantial modification.
• Cybersecurity and evolving behaviour are addressed. The essential requirements now cover protection against corruption and against attempts to create a hazardous situation in safety-related functions, and machinery with evolving or learning behaviour.

What to do before the date

Confirm your conformity route for each machine you will still place on the market after 20 January 2027. If a machine is in Annex I Part A, or in Part B without full harmonised-standard coverage, engage a notified body now, because lead times lengthen as the date approaches and notified bodies can already certify to the Regulation during the transition. Re-issue your EU declaration of conformity against 2023/1230, and decide digital versus paper instructions and build the paper-on-request process.