Book excerpt: Machinery Directive & Harmonised Standards Directive 2006/42/EC(*) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC (recast) with last comunication references of harmonised standards(**) which have been generated by the HAS (Harmonised standards) database. Directive 2006/42/EC is a revised version of the Machinery Directive, the first version of which was adopted in 1989. The Directive has the dual aim of harmonising the health and safety requirements applicable to machinery on the basis of a high level of protection of health and safety, while ensuring the free circulation of machinery on the EU market. The machinery sector is an important part of the engineering industry and is one of the industrial mainstays of the Community economy. Machinery can be described as "an assembly, fitted with or intended to be fitted with a drive system other than directly applied human or animal effort, consisting of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, and which are joined together for a specific application". European Commission Enterprice and Industry (*) Amendment: Directive 2009/127/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 amending Directive 2006/42/EC with regard to machinery for pesticide application. (**)Harmonised standards 02.03.2021 Since 1 December 2018 the references of harmonised standards are published in, and withdrawn from the Official Journal of the European Union by means of 'Commission implementing decisions'. The references published under Directive 2006/42/EC on Machinery are found in the Commission communication published in OJ C 092 of 9 March 2018 and in the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 of 18 March 2019 (OJ L 75, 19 March 2019), in the Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1766 of 23 October 2019 (OJ L L 270/94 del 24 October 2019) and in the Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1863 of 6 November 2019 (OJ L 286/25 07 November 2019) listed below. They need to be read together, taking into account that the decision modifies some references published in the Communication. - Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/377 of 2 March 2021 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 on harmonised standards for machinery drafted in support of Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 72/12 03 March 2021) - Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2020/480 of 1 April 2020 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 on harmonised standards for machinery drafted in support of Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 102/6 02 April 2020) - Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1863 of 6 November 2019 amending and correcting Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 as regards the withdrawal of references of harmonised standards for machinery from the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L 286/25 07 November 2019) - Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1766 of 23 October 2019 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 as regards harmonised standard EN ISO 19085- 3:2017 for numerically controlled boring and routing machines (OJ L L 270/94 del 24 October 2019) - Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436 of 18 March 2019 on the harmonised standards for machinery drafted in support of Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council C/2019/1932 - OJ L 75, 19 March 2019, p. 108–119 - Commission communication in the framework of the implementation of the Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC (recast) - OJ C 092 of 9 March 2018