Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery will apply from 20 January 2027.

The regulation will replace the currently applicable Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the Polish Regulation of the Minister of the Economy of 21 October 2008 implementing that directive, concerning the essential requirements for machinery.

The most significant changes include:

1. Defining the concept of a “substantial modification” as a reconstruction that changes the parameters or intended use of a machine, or introduces new hazards. This results in the entity carrying out the modification being considered as the manufacturer and consequently being required to carry out the full CE conformity assessment procedure.
2. Introducing the concept of machinery cybersecurity and the related obligation to design machinery control systems in such a way that the connection of an external device or interference with software does not lead to dangerous situations or the disabling of protective functions.
3. Allowing manufacturers to provide operating instructions (technical documentation) and declarations of conformity in digital form, subject to the requirement that the digital documentation remain accessible throughout the entire lifecycle of the product, and for at least 10 years from the placing of the machinery on the market.
4. Dividing high-risk machinery into two groups subject to different conformity-assessment regimes and including, in the group requiring the involvement of a notified body, safety components with fully or partially self-evolving behaviour that use machine learning (artificial intelligence) to ensure safety functions, as well as machinery with embedded systems having fully or partially self-evolving behaviour that use machine learning to ensure safety functions and that have not been placed on the market independently (with regard solely to those systems).
5. Increasing the legal responsibilities of importers, distributors and authorised representatives, who will be required to ensure that the manufacturer has carried out an appropriate risk assessment and that the machinery has complete technical documentation.

Employers should, above all, verify whether there is a risk of losing their status as a “regular user” if they make a “substantial modification” to machinery. An important obligation will be to ensure digital access to documentation for machinery used in work processes. Where self-learning machinery, such as autonomous AGV/AMR vehicles, is introduced into the workplace, occupational risk assessments will need to be updated to address the risks associated with the use of AI and cybersecurity.

Find more articles in PRO HR September 2026