Methodology

How your report is produced.

Every report is generated the same way: a rules engine takes the machine you describe and screens it, step by step, against the text of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230. Here is exactly how that works, and where its limits are.

1. You describe the machine

The report is built from four inputs: a short label for the machine, its category from a picker keyed to Annex I Part A and Part B, your operator role (manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor, integrator or modifier), and whether harmonised standards fully cover the machine's risks. The report reflects exactly what you enter; it does not guess at facts you did not provide.

2. A rules engine maps you to the Regulation

Each input is matched against the conditions the Regulation itself sets out, in the order an assessment follows:

Scope: whether the described product is machinery or a related product under the Regulation, and the exclusions to check.
Annex I classification: whether it falls in Part A (six categories, notified body always required), Part B (higher-risk machinery), or neither. Annex I replaces the old Annex IV of the Directive.
Conformity route (Art. 25): for Part A, a notified body under Article 25(2); for Part B, self-assessment under Article 25(3) only where standards fully cover the risks, otherwise a notified body route (for example EU type-examination, full quality assurance or unit verification); for machinery not in Annex I, internal production control (Module A).
Documentation: the technical file, EU declaration of conformity, CE marking and instructions, including the digital-versus-paper rule and the paper-safety-information rule for non-professional use.

3. Every determination is cited

Each determination in the report names the article or annex it comes from. That is deliberate: it is what lets you, or your compliance manager, or your counsel, open the source text in EUR-Lex and confirm the point in a minute rather than take our word for it. A read you cannot check is worth little; a cited one is a starting map you can hand to a notified body or an adviser.

The standards-coverage fork

One question decides the route for a large share of machines, so the engine treats it as a distinct fork. For Annex I Part B, self-assessment is available only if harmonised standards (or common specifications) cover all the relevant health and safety requirements (Article 25(3)). If the standards do not fully cover the risks, or were not applied, a notified body route is required. Because the list of harmonised standards is published and updated by Commission implementing decisions, a standard being added or withdrawn can change the answer, which is why the report dates this determination and flags it for re-check.

Law-dependent values are dated and re-verified. Several elements of the Regulation depend on implementing and delegated acts, on the harmonised-standards list, and on the exact wording of Annex I, Annex III and the transitional chapter that must be read from the final text. Every such value in the report carries an "as at" date, and where a detail still depends on a pending act or a final cross-check we flag it as provisional rather than presenting it as settled. We re-verify against the current Regulation text before each relaunch and quarterly through 2027, because a stale article number or route is a real error, not a rounding issue.

What the method does not do

The engine screens your stated inputs against the Regulation. It does not inspect the machine, run a risk assessment, test conformity, or issue a type-examination; those are the jobs of the manufacturer and, where required, a notified body. It cannot see facts you did not enter, and it does not resolve genuinely ambiguous provisions for your specific case; where the Regulation's application is a matter of legal judgement, the report says so and points you to the source. This is decision-support to focus your effort and document your reasoning, not a substitute for advice or an official assessment.

Read next: The sources we cite · About the tool