On Wednesday 9 November, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I), obtained “a certain degree” of flexibility from national delegations to resume negotiations with the European Parliament on the “machinery and equipment” regulation on 17 November.
According to a document obtained by EUROPE, the Presidency had put some fifteen questions to the Member States, which related in particular to the terminology used, common specifications, digital versus paper documentation and ‘high risk’ machines.
On the issue of terminology, consensus was quickly reached, several sources confirmed, notably on the Presidency’s intention to insist on the EU Council’s mandate with regard to the terminology ‘machinery’ and ‘related products’.
On the ‘common specifications’ introduced by the EU Council, the national delegations showed some flexibility to go along with the European Parliament’s line. As a reminder, the Parliament is strongly opposed to the introduction of this definition, as it believes that the definition should be introduced in horizontal legislation and not in sectoral legislation.
As for digital documentation, there was flexibility on the EU Council side, but Member States insisted on retaining the possibility of providing instructions in paper form to the user. There remains the question of extending the categories in Annex I of high-risk machines. Here, Member States have been flexible, we were told, with the exception of Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium and Italy, according to two diplomatic sources.
The inter-institutional meeting on 17 November will be the second on this text. It will not be conclusive, we were told.
To consult the Czech Presidency’s 4-column document: https://aeur.eu/f/40d (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)