NEWS

EGMF has updated its Compliance Guides for both combustion engine and electric powered equipment. These guides are aimed at assisting market surveillance and border control authorities in checking the conformity of various types of garden machinery equipment that enter the EU market.

While EGMF member manufacturers build products that are compliant with EU legislation on safety and the environment, not all products on the market in Europe meet the same stringent levels. Counterfeit and non-compliant products are likely to present a safety hazard to consumers and are damaging to the environment.

The guides focus on the following key areas:

• Identification of the key parts of the machine
• The applicable EU Directives and Regulations
• The applicable EU Harmonised standards
• The main marking requirements such as CE, Engine exhaust emission, Guaranteed sound power level, WEEE symbol
• The required warning symbols
• The documentation that must be provided such as instructions and Declaration of Conformity

The full list of updated Compliance Guides, divided by specific garden machinery products, are now available for download.

To provide some background, EGMF produced its first batch of compliance guides in 2016. Ever since, members and the EGMF Secretariat have produced new guides for different types of equipment and updated the older ones to reflect changes in legislation or other technical requirements. 

In the context of discussion on the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2020-2024, we shared our views on the concept of universal batteries.

In short, EGMF strongly supports the European Commission’s decision to not include ‘universal batteries’ in the draft list of product groups, in line with the study recommendation.

We strongly believe that the existing initiatives to develop interoperable batteries and systems should remain voluntary in the garden machinery and outdoor power industry. Main reasons are:

1. The battery is an essential part of cordless garden machinery and outdoor power equipment since it influences the performance and, consequently, efficiency of the machinery;
2. Free competition is a key driver for innovation and competitiveness;
3. Safety should remain a priority and cannot be compromised;
4. The backward compatibility – one of specificities of our industry and the interoperable systems – already contributes to material and energy savings.

Find EGMF position paper here.

Released on 21 April 2021, the new European Commission’s proposal revising the Machinery Directive includes crucial changes that will have a significant impact on manufacturers of garden, landscaping, forestry and turf maintenance equipment for years to come.

EGMF is very pleased to see the introduction of digital instructions. At the same time, the proposal will stifle European innovation by artificially categorising AI machines as high risk and imposing third party certification without any safety benefits.

The full EGMF statement is available here.

On 20 April 2021, EGMF published its comments on the European Commission’s proposal for a revised Regulation on batteries and waste batteries.

Today, sustainability is a key part of our companies’ business strategy and we strongly support the overall objective to develop more sustainable batteries in Europe. Driven by innovation, our companies have been ahead of the curve to develop high performing battery equipment, enhancing the electrification of the garden and outdoor power equipment sector. The future Regulation on batteries is a key matter as it will influence the future of our industry.  
 To achieve a balanced and future-proof legislative framework, EGMF identified necessary improvements in the European Commission proposal, especially:

• Providing clarifications on the scope of the Regulation;
• Setting realistic and achievable collection targets for portable batteries;
• Differentiating requirements for industrial and electric vehicles batteries to target mass-volume products suitable for second life, and not niche-market;
• Limiting the removability and replaceability requirements to battery pack;
• Revising information requirements and systems to provide clarity to manufacturers, avoid duplication and simplify implementation;
• Allowing electronic declaration of conformity and digital instructions.

The EGMF position paper is available here.

On 8 March 2021, we celebrate the International Women’s Day. This is a special opportunity to shine the spotlight on women working in the garden and outdoor power equipment industry, highlighting their unique experiences and expertise, and what led them on this career path.

We are delighted to share with you the inspiring story of Therese Berg, Team Leader & Senior Product Compliance Specialist at Husqvarna group, as well as active expert in EGMF, highlighting her key role and motivation in shaping our industry!

Read the full interview with Therese Berg.

Further to the evaluation of the Outdoor Noise Directive (OND), on 3 March 2021, the European Commission put forward two options for the future of this piece of legislation.

EGMF supports a revision of the OND Annex IIII to update the measurement methods, through a delegated act, rather than a full revision of the legislation. Although this approach will not solve all aspects to be revised, it will tackle the most urgent issue. It is necessary to update measure methods to better reflect technical progress in the industry and European standardisation.

Why does EGMF call to fix measure methods first?

1. Revising the OND Annex III through a delegated act will allow addressing the most urgent issue: outdated noise measurement methods, in a quicker and easier manner.

2. European resources and work on regulatory measures should support the recovery. Since a full revision process will take considerable time and a consume significant resources, we strongly question whether it would contribute to the EU recovery and support the competitiveness of our industry.

3. Considering the revision of OND measurement methods would take place in parallel to the revision of the Machinery Directive, this offers the opportunity to align references to standards. The revision of OND Annex III will contribute to the overall coherence and simplification of the EU legislative framework, in line with the EU Better regulation agenda.

Finally, the EGMF position paper provides some suggestions for the revision of measurements methods:

• listing references to up-to-date standards in Annex III amendment instead of detailed descriptions of test codes;
• involving stakeholders in the drafting process of delegated acts to reflect the state of art of the standardisation work and assess impacts of changes;
• updating only measurements methods when there is no impact on the measured noise value for equipment subject to noise limits (Article 12).

The full EGMF position paper is available here.