07/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - A conference entitled "Machinery in Europe", organised by the European Commission, will be held in Brussels on Wednesday 9 December (Charlemagne building, room Gasperi S3, rue de la Loi 170), to mark the imminent entry into force (end of 2009) of the revised "Machines" Directive (2006/42/ EC). The machinery sector accounts for 170,000 businesses in the EU and directly employs 3.3 million people. The conference will bring together decision-makers and representatives of industry, who will carry out a political, regulatory and industrial analysis of their activities in the wake of the economic crisis and put forward a "contribution" to the new Commission, to feed into the debate on the post-Lisbon strategy up to 2020 and the new industrial policy of the EU. They will also discuss the implementation of Directive 2006/42. (O.L./transl.fl)