The New Machine Directive 2006/42/EG

The requirement for member states of the European Community to implement the single European market directives has turned the new Machine Directive 2006/42/EG into law. This Directive will become binding no later than December 29, 2009. It will replace Machine Directive 98/37/EG.

Article 5 (par. 1) of the Directive takes in all requirements made for the commissioning of machines.

According to Article 5 of the new machine directive, machine manufacturers must meet, among other things, all safety and health-protection requirements (Appendix I).

Within this context, listed standards such as EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061 (from the IEC 61508-derived sector standards for machine manufacturing) take effect. The deterministic approach of the currently valid EN 954-1, which contrasts a corresponding system behavior to the determined risk categories, is now complemented by a probabilistic view of the safety functions. Moreover, the new standards EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061 also include, among others, the failure probabilities of the implemented components, since such a view takes the complexity of modern programmable electronics into account. In order to ease machine manufacturers into a smooth transition toward the safety requirements of the new standards, a simple integration of components is needed, even in existing developments.

Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH responds to these needs with products that are new concepts, are easily implemented, and cost-effectively integrated, including products for high safety categories (SIL3, PLe).