29. 6. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities - No L 183/9 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 14 June 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to machinery (89/392/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and: in partlcular Article 100a thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (), In cooperation -with the European Parliament (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), ' / Whereas Member States are responsible for ensuring the health and safety on their territory of their people and, where appropriate, of domestic animals and goods and, in particular, of workers notably in relation to the risks arising out of the use of machinery; Whereas, in the Member States, the -legislative systems regarding accident prevention are very different; whereas the relevant compulsory provisions, frequently supplemented by de facto mandatory technical specifications. and/or voluntary standards, do not necessarily lead to different levels of health and safety, but nevertheless, owing to their disparities, constitute . barriers to trade within the Community; whereas, furthermore, conformity certification and national certification systems for machinery differ considerably; Whereas the maintenance or improvement of the level of ~ safety attained by the Member States constitutes one of the essential aims of this Directive and of the principle of safety as defined by the essential requirements; Whereas existing national health and safety provisions providing prot:itlon against the risks caused by machinery must be approximated to ensure free movement of machinery without lowering existing justified levels.of protection in the Member States; whereas the provisions of this Directive concerning the ‘design- and construction of machinery, essential - for a safer working environment shall be accompanied by specific provisions concerning = the prevention of certain risks to which workers can be exposed at work, as well as by provisions based on the organization of safety of workers in the working environment; (1) O] No C 29, 3.2.1988, p. 1, and OJ No C 214, 16. 8. 1988,- p. 23. (2) O] No C 326, 19. 12. 1988, p. 143, and O] No C 158, 26. 6.. 1989, (%) O)J No C 337, 31. 12. 1988, p. 30. Whereas the machinery sector is an important part of the engineering industry and is one of the industrial mamstays of the Community economy; Whereas paragraphs 65 and 68 of the White Paper on the completion of the internal market, approved by the European Council in June 1985, provide for anew approach to legislative harmonization; Whereas the social cost of the large number of accidents caused directly by the use of machinery can be reduced by inherently safe design and construction of machmery and by proper installations and maintenance; Whereas the field of application of this Directive must be based on a general definition of the term ‘machinery’ so as to allow the technical development of products; whereas the development of ‘complex installations’ and the risks they involve are of an equivalent nature and their express inclusion in the Directive is therefore justified; Whereas specific Directives containing design and construction -provisions for certain categories of machinery are now envisaged; whereas the very broad scope of this Directive must be limited in relation to these Directives and also - existing Directives where they contain- design and construction provisions; . ' Whereas Community law, in its present form, provides — by way of derogation from one of the fundamental rules of the Community, namely the free movement of goods — that abstacles to movement within the Community resulting from disparities in national legislation relating to the markeéting of products must be accepted in so far as the provisions concerned can be recognized as being necessary to satisfy imperative requirements;: whereas, therefore, the harmonization of laws in this case must be limited only to those requirements necessary to satisfy the imperative and essential health and safety requirements -relating to machinery; whereas these requirements must replace the relevant national provisions because they are essential; Whereas the essential health and safety requirements must be observed in order to ensure that machinery is safe; whereas these requirements must be applied with discernment to take account of the state of the art at the time of constryction and of technical and economic requirements;