The user manual is part of CE marking
For machinery, CE marking means the machine meets the essential health and safety requirements of the EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The instructions are one of those requirements — Annex I, section 1.7.4 — not an optional extra you add at the end. So a manual that is incomplete or vague is a compliance gap in its own right, even when the machine itself is well built and safe. For the full point-by-point list of what the instructions must contain, see our breakdown of Directive 2006/42/EC.
What CE marking requires your manual to contain
The directive lists the required contents point by point. Grouped into plain language, your manual needs to cover:
- Who made it, and the declaration of conformity — the manufacturer's name and full address, and the EC Declaration of Conformity (or a document setting out its contents).
- What the machine is and what it is for — a general description, the intended use, and warnings about the ways people could reasonably be expected to misuse it.
- Getting it in place — assembly, installation and connection instructions, plus safe transport, handling and storage, including the mass of the machine and its parts.
- Running and looking after it — safe operation, adjustment and maintenance, and what to do in the event of an accident or breakdown, including safe unblocking.
- What can still go wrong — warnings, the residual risks that remain after the protective measures, and the protective equipment the user must wear or use.
- Measured values — airborne noise emission values and the conditions they were measured under, along with the other measurements the directive asks for.
The list above is a summary. The directive sets out the requirements individually, and each one is checkable — see the full list on our directive page.
Languages and “Original instructions”
The manual must be supplied in the official language or languages of every EU country where the machine is sold or put into service. The version you supply also has to be labelled: the version the manufacturer drew up and verified reads “Original instructions”, and every other language version reads “Translation of the original instructions”. Getting that label wrong is a common and easily avoidable finding.
EU Manuals can translate a corrected manual into any of the 24 official EU languages — €14.99 per language, excluding VAT.
Manual gaps that commonly block CE compliance
These are items that are commonly missing, or too thin, in machinery manuals:
- The declaration of conformity is absent, or does not contain the required details
- No warnings about reasonably foreseeable misuse
- Residual risks are not stated — only the protective measures are described
- Noise emission values are missing, or given without the measurement conditions
- Transport information is missing, including the mass of the machine and its parts
- Maintenance and safe-unblocking procedures are incomplete
Check your manual for CE compliance — free
Upload your manual as a Word document and get a compliance score and a prioritised list of gaps, checked against the instruction requirements of the Machinery Directive. Every finding cites the requirement it relates to. The scan is free — no signup, no card.
If you want the gaps fixed, the automated upgrade (€149, excluding VAT) rewrites the missing sections and returns a finished Word document plus a PDF.
To be plain about what this is: EU Manuals is an automated pre-review. It does not certify CE compliance. The manufacturer remains responsible for the conformity assessment and for the declaration of conformity.
Frequently asked questions
Does CE marking require a user manual?
Yes. For machinery, the instructions are one of the essential health and safety requirements you must meet before you can affix the CE marking. A machine supplied without instructions — or with instructions that leave out required content — does not meet the requirement.
Can a user manual fail CE compliance?
Yes. If the manual is missing content the directive asks for, that is a gap a technical-file reviewer or a market-surveillance authority can flag, even when the machine itself is safely built.
Do I need the manual in every EU language?
No — only in the official language or languages of the countries where you place the machine on the market or put it into service. If you sell into three countries, you need those three languages, not all 24.
Does EU Manuals certify CE compliance?
No. EU Manuals is an automated pre-review: it finds gaps in your manual against the instruction requirements of Directive 2006/42/EC and can rewrite the missing sections for you. It does not certify CE compliance — the manufacturer remains responsible for the conformity assessment and the declaration of conformity.