Distributors under Regulation 2023/1230 (Article 15)

Verify before you make machinery available (Article 15(2))

• The machinery or related product bears the CE marking.
• It comes with the EU declaration of conformity referred to in Article 10(8).
• It comes with the instructions for use and the information in Article 10(7), in a language users can easily understand, as set by the Member State where it will be made available.
• The manufacturer has met Article 10(5) and (6), and the importer has met Article 13(3).

Duties that continue

• Act with due care (Article 15(1)).
• Do not let storage or transport conditions jeopardise conformity with the Annex III essential health and safety requirements while the machine is under your responsibility (Article 15(4)).
• If you consider or have reason to believe a machine you made available is non-conforming, make sure corrective action is taken to bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it (Article 15(5)).
• Where a machine presents a risk to health and safety, inform the manufacturer or importer and the market surveillance authorities; give the national authority details of the non-conformity and the corrective actions taken (Article 15(3) and (5)).
• On a reasoned request, give a competent national authority the information and documents needed to show conformity, on paper or digitally, in a language it can easily understand (Article 15(6)).

When a distributor is treated as the manufacturer (Article 17)

An importer or distributor is considered the manufacturer, with the Article 10 and 11 obligations, if it places a product on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already on the market in a way that might affect compliance. Rebranding a machine or changing it is therefore not a neutral resale. See also substantial modification.

Partly completed machinery has a parallel rule in Article 16 (declaration of incorporation and assembly instructions instead).

Quick checklist for a reseller

• For each product line, ask the supplier for the EU declaration of conformity and instructions before stocking.
• Check the CE marking and the manufacturer and importer details are on the machine.
• Confirm the instructions exist in the language of each target country.
• Decide in writing whether any rebranding or modification would make you the manufacturer.

General information, not legal advice or certification. Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Articles 3, 15, 16 and 17, on EUR-Lex.

Related: importers and authorised representatives · technical file · conformity assessment · declaration of conformity · UK builders. We sell to businesses only; see Terms.