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Machinery directive and industrial valves: "Preserving the stability of the market"

Friday 7 July 2017

The question of the applicability of the Machinery Directive (MD) to Industrial Valves has generated much discussion and considerable confusion in recent years.

If it appears evident that the pressure risk is predominant in our trades, supporters of the Machinery Directive are based on a purely legal aspect to claim that mechanical hazards are not covered by the PED, the latter dealing only with the pressure risk and neglecting the protection of the user during the operation of the valves. However, if the MD applies, neither the PED nor its harmonized standards would apply, giving way to the appearance on the European market for hardware designed, manufactured, or even made of doubtful materials...

CEIR presented its position in various European bodies and then to the European Commission on 9/10 November 2016. Following this, the Commission presented in March 2017 its draft guide defining the limits of the application of one directive or the other and to which valves they apply. Since this draft guide has been challenged by various Member States (as it is contradictory), the CEIR will continue these actions in order to maintain the single application of the PED to the valves, thus preserving the stability of the market.

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