Currently, machinery safety in Europe is regulated by Directive 2006/42/EC (Machinery Directive). By establishing the European requirements as a directive, member states had more flexibility in meeting the directive's objectives. However, this has also led to different interpretations and thus, in part, to legal uncertainties for users of the directive, such as manufacturers. If these exported their machines or plants e.g. into different countries of the EU and there by local authorities details interpreted sometimes somewhat differently.
With the aim of reducing the administrative burden, the directive has now been replaced by a regulation. This must be applied directly in all member states. This means that different national interpretations should be significantly reduced and thus the legal clarity is improved. In addition, the administrative burden for economic operators, such as manufacturers, should also be reduced.