The European Commission (EC) has announced that BS EN 954-1 can be used to support compliance to the European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC for a further three years. The news comes despite the introduction of new replacement standards.
For many years BS EN 954-1 has been followed for presumption of conformity to the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC. However, the two new standards – BS EN ISO 13849-1 or BS EN 62061 – that have been developed were set to replace BS EN 954-1 on December 29 2009, and would have been the only control system standards accepted under the new European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. This change has been publicised for a long time and many machine builders and control system suppliers have invested time and money in preparing to follow the new standards.
However, some organisations have found it difficult to get ready for the change and, as a result, the deadline for withdrawal of the presumption of conformity for EN 954-1 has recently been extended to 2012. This means that machine builders can now continue using the old standard, BS EN 954-1, for another three years. |
