Methodology and fact-checking: Machinery Regulation Guide

This page explains how these sources rank, how a status is dated, how standards are described and how errors are corrected. What Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 itself requires is explained in our overview of the EU Machinery Regulation.

Which Primary Sources Each Fact Comes From

We take each kind of fact from the body that publishes it with legal or official effect, and we cite that body inside the sentence that uses the fact.

We cite Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 by CELEX 32023R1230 and OJ L 165, 29.6.2023, p. 1, read it with the corrigendum in OJ L 169, 4.7.2023, p. 35, which corrected its dates, and take its text from the consolidated version 02023R1230-20260727. Directive 2006/42/EC is cited by OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 24.

Table 1 sets out the six primary sources, what each one settles and a dated example from each.

Commission guides, such as the Blue Guide 2022 (Commission Notice 2022/C 247/01), are labelled as guidance without legal effect. For Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, only a "temporary and partial" Commission guide, version 1.00, exists as of 12 November 2026.

How Facts Are Checked and Dated

Each value is checked against its primary source on a stated day and carries that date, in the form "as of 12 November 2026", whenever it can change: a NANDO count, an Official Journal status, a guide edition, a national law or a pending proposal.

Every article and annex is cited with its act, because the numbering differs: Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 lists the high-risk categories, while Annex I of Directive 2006/42/EC holds the essential health and safety requirements.

A newer official source beats an older one and every secondary source, such as vendor, consultancy, test-lab and news pages.

A dated status reads like this: "As of 12 November 2026, no harmonised standard is cited in the Official Journal under Regulation (EU) 2023/1230."

Fixed dates carry their day: the Regulation applies from 20 January 2027, and the last day of Directive 2006/42/EC is 19 January 2027. Every fixed date since entry into force on 19 July 2023 is listed in the Machinery Regulation timeline.

How Standards Are Described Without Reproducing Their Text

A standard is described, never reproduced: we give its designation with edition year and amendments, its publisher, its scope and structure as the standards body publishes them, and its Official Journal status, but never its text, tables, figures or risk graphs.

A dated designation such as "EN ISO 13849-1:2023" marks an edition or an Official Journal statement, and an undated designation such as "EN ISO 12100" marks a general reference. A value from a standard appears only as a number attributed to a public source.

ISO 12100:2010 is at ISO stage 90.92 (to be revised), and its revision ISO/DIS 12100.3 is at stage 40.60 as of 12 November 2026, so the revision is called a draft.

Official Journal publication of a reference gives the presumption of conformity (Article 20(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230), so until an implementing decision under the Regulation exists, the status given is that of the Directive list. The Commission's summary list, generated on 28 October 2026, has no legal effect and no entry under the Regulation.

What Is Never Stated as Fact

A value that we cannot trace to a primary source is left out, not hedged: the guide does not write "reportedly", "expected" or "some sources say".

The value stays off every page until it is confirmed at the issuing body. Forecasts of when an act, a list of standards or a guide will be published are not repeated, whoever makes them.

Pending proposals are always "proposed" or "pending" with a date, and never described as law. Draft standards, such as prEN, FprEN and DIS documents, are always called "draft". No harmonised standard is called "cited under the Regulation" without the implementing decision and its Official Journal reference.

When Pages Are Updated

Pages are re-checked when the primary source changes, and six events are watched by name because each one changes values on more than one page. The Official Journal is checked every week until the Regulation applies. The six update triggers are listed below.

1. The first implementing decision citing harmonised standards under Regulation (EU) 2023/1230.
2. A new edition or section of a Commission guide.
3. COM(2025) 504, the Commission's proposal of 21 May 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 and other acts, pending as of 12 November 2026 and tracked under amendments to the Machinery Regulation.
4. 20 January 2027, the date from which the Regulation applies and Directive 2006/42/EC is repealed.
5. National penalty rules under Article 50 of the Regulation, whose paragraph 1 has applied since 20 October 2026.
6. NANDO changes, and new editions or stages of a standard.

A re-check updates every page carrying the value, and its "as of" date moves with it.

How Corrections Work

Anyone can report an error to editorial@machineryregulation.net, and every report is checked against the primary source before any page changes. Where the primary source gives a different value, the official value and its source replace it on every page carrying it.

Where a report shows that a value cannot be confirmed at a primary source, the value is removed rather than replaced.

A report helps most when it names the page, the value and the primary source.

Send the page, the value and the primary source to editorial@machineryregulation.net or use our contact page.

Independence and the Limits of This Guide

Machinery Regulation Guide explains what Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Directive 2006/42/EC and national machinery rules require; it does not tell a named company that its product is or is not in scope, in Annex I or compliant, and it is not legal advice.

No company is named as a partner, and providers cannot buy a place on machineryregulation.net. How independence is kept is set out in our editorial policy.