The French Presidency of the Council of the EU will seek a mandate from Member States regarding the proposed Machinery Regulation at a meeting of Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper I) on Friday 24 June, so that inter-institutional negotiations with the European Parliament can begin.
Work at a technical level has been intense, according to a Presidency note dated 17 June. “Considerable attention” was needed in terms of terminology issues to ensure consistency between the terms “machinery”, “related products” and “partly completed machinery”, among others. The issue of translation has been regularly addressed in this context.
Exemptions from the scope have been introduced for two and three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles, but Member States have agreed not to exclude small transport vehicles for personal use or light electric vehicles (electric scooters, electric bicycles), all of which are currently poorly regulated.
However, traffic risks are not covered by the regulation. This will be introduced as part of the revision of the type approval legislation. Tractors are excluded from the scope.
Annex I on the list of machinery or related products has been “substantially amended”. The Chair has sought to take into account the positions of Member States who are in favour of the mandatory involvement of conformity assessment bodies for certain products, as well as the positions of those Member States who are less enthusiastic. Member States have agreed to maintain the possibility for the European Commission to update the list in Annex I by delegated acts.
As for the right of the European Commission to develop technical specifications if standards are not available, Member States have expressed strong reservations about this. Ultimately, this possibility is to be maintained, but only as a last resort and in “specific, exceptional and regulated circumstances”.
The European Parliament adopted its position at the beginning of May, when it focussed on machines driven by artificial intelligence (see EUROPE 12944/16). According to one source, the Czech Republic, which is set to take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council on 1 July, may try to organise a first inter-institutional meeting with the European Parliament to be held on 12 July. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)