Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC came into force on 29 December 2009, replacing the earlier Directive 98/37/EC. In Italy, it was implemented by Legislative Decree no. 17 of 27 January, 2010. Like its predecessors, this Directive is intended to establish safety prerequisites for machinery common to all European Union member states.
Amongst the various prerequisites, in point 1.7.4 of Annex I the Directive specifies that machinery must be accompanied by instructions in the official community language or languages of the country in which it is to be placed on the market and/or put into service. In particular, the manufacturer is required to provide the instructions in the language in which they were originally drafted, marking them as the “Original Instructions”, and the relative translation into the language of the country of destination, clearly marked as a “Translation of the Original Instructions”.