Manufacturing & Engineering UK-wide

Place machinery and equipment on the market

Almost everything this sector makes must meet a product-conformity or type-approval regime before you can sell it. This guide takes you through the regimes that apply to machinery and equipment — machinery safety, electromagnetic compatibility, pressure equipment and simple pressure vessels, lifts, type approval for agricultural and forestry vehicles and non-road mobile machinery, general product safety, and food-contact materials for food-processing machinery. Use the sections that match what you make.

Guide summary

Before you sell machinery or equipment in Great Britain, you must identify which product safety regulations apply to your product. You must meet the essential health and safety requirements, carry out conformity assessment, compile a technical file, draw up a declaration of conformity, and apply the UKCA or CE marking. Different marking rules apply in Northern Ireland.

  • Find out which regulations apply to your product
  • Carry out a risk assessment for machinery
  • Compile a technical file and declaration of conformity
  • Apply UKCA or CE marking to your product
  • For electrical equipment, meet EMC requirements
  • Classify pressure equipment by hazard category
  • Use an approved body for higher-risk equipment
  • Keep records for enforcement checks
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What sets machinery and equipment manufacturing apart is the weight of product law. Before you place a product on the Great Britain market it has to meet the conformity or type-approval regime that applies to it — and several regimes may apply to one machine. This guide is organised by regime; use the sections that match what you make. For the conformity regimes, Great Britain uses the UKCA marking, but CE marking continues to be accepted on the GB market, so you can use either; there is no UKCA-only cut-off. If you place products on the Northern Ireland market, check the position separately, because different marking rules apply there under the Windsor Framework.

A. Machinery safety

Most machinery is covered by the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. You must make sure the machine meets the essential health and safety requirements, carry out the right conformity-assessment procedure, compile a technical file, draw up a declaration of conformity, provide instructions, and apply the conformity marking before placing it on the market.

B. Electromagnetic compatibility

If your equipment is electrical or electronic, the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2016 require it not to generate, or be unduly affected by, electromagnetic disturbance. Assess conformity, compile the documentation and apply the marking.

C. Pressure equipment and simple pressure vessels

If you make boilers, vessels, piping or other equipment that operates under pressure, the Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 set conformity requirements graded by the hazard category, often involving an approved body. Certain mass-produced simple vessels — for example small air receivers — instead fall under the Simple Pressure Vessels (Safety) Regulations 2016. Work out which regime applies and meet its conformity and marking requirements.

D. Lifts

If you make lifts or lift safety components, the Lifts Regulations 2016 set the conformity-assessment, documentation and marking requirements for new passenger and goods lifts placed on the market.

E. Type approval for vehicles and engines

Type approval is a different regime from conformity marking. If you make agricultural or forestry tractors, trailers and towed equipment, they need vehicle type approval before they can be registered and used on the road. And the engines fitted to non-road mobile machinery — diggers, generators, compressors and the like — must meet the non-road mobile machinery emissions type-approval rules. Both are run through the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) for the Great Britain market; check the Northern Ireland position separately.

F. General product safety

Where a product falls outside a specific regime, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 still require you to place only safe products on the market. The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 are a Great Britain regime enforced by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and Trading Standards; check the Northern Ireland position separately, as Northern Ireland follows EU product-safety rules under the Windsor Framework.

G. Food-contact materials (food-processing machinery)

If you make machinery for processing food, drink or tobacco, the parts that come into contact with food are food-contact materials and must meet the food-contact-materials rules — they must not transfer their constituents to food in unsafe quantities, and you must follow good manufacturing practice. This is a devolved regime enforced by local authorities, with separate regulations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (in England, the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012, alongside the assimilated framework rules). Check the regulations for your nation.

  1. 1

    1. List the regimes that apply to each product

    Work through machinery safety, EMC, pressure equipment, lifts, vehicle and engine type approval, general product safety and food-contact materials, and identify which apply to each machine you make — several may apply to one product.

  2. 2

    2. Carry out conformity assessment and compile your technical file

    For each conformity regime, run the right assessment procedure (involving an approved body where required), compile the technical documentation and draw up the declaration of conformity.

  3. 3

    3. Mark and document your products

    Apply the conformity marking (UKCA, or CE which is still accepted on the GB market) and provide instructions; for vehicles and engines, obtain the VCA type approval before sale.

  4. 4

    4. Check the residual and devolved duties

    Confirm anything outside a specific regime is safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, and that food-processing-machinery food-contact parts meet the rules for your nation. Check the NI position separately.

What to do next

With your safe-factory spine and the conformity regimes for what you make in place, confirm the whole picture with the machinery and equipment manufacturer compliance checklist. If you are not sure which guides apply to you, start from the router.

Official sources

Authoritative product-conformity and type-approval guidance.