All machinery must be accompanied by instructions in the official Community language or languages of the Member State in which it is placed on the market and/or put into service.

The instructions accompanying the machinery must be either ‘Original instructions’ or a ‘Translation of the original instructions’, in which case the translation must be accompanied by the original instructions.

By way of exception, the maintenance instructions intended for use by specialised personnel mandated by the manufacturer or his authorised representative may be supplied in only one Community language which the specialised personnel understand.

The instructions must be drafted in accordance with the principles set out below.

Each instruction manual must contain, where applicable, at least the following information:

1. the business name and full address of the manufacturer and of his authorised representative;
2. the designation of the machinery as marked on the machinery itself, except for the serial number (see section 1.7.3);
3. the EC declaration of conformity, or a document setting out the contents of the EC declaration of conformity, showing the particulars of the machinery, not necessarily including the serial number and the signature;
4. a general description of the machinery;
5. the drawings, diagrams, descriptions and explanations necessary for the use, maintenance and repair of the machinery and for checking its correct functioning;
6. a description of the workstation(s) likely to be occupied by operators;
7. a description of the intended use of the machinery;
8. warnings concerning ways in which the machinery must not be used that experience has shown might occur
9. assembly, installation and connection instructions, including drawings, diagrams and the means of attachment and the designation of the chassis or installation on which the machinery is to be mounted;
10. instructions relating to installation and assembly for reducing noise or vibration;
11. instructions for the putting into service and use of the machinery and, if necessary, instructions for the training of operators;
12. information about the residual risks that remain despite the inherent safe design measures, safeguarding and complementary protective measures adopted
13. instructions on the protective measures to be taken by the user, including, where appropriate, the personal protective equipment to be provided;
14. the essential characteristics of tools which may be fitted to the machinery;
15. the conditions in which the machinery meets the requirement of stability during use, transportation, assembly, dismantling when out of service, testing or foreseeable breakdowns;
16. instructions with a view to ensuring that transport, handling and storage operations can be made safely, giving the mass of the machinery and of its various parts where these are regularly to be transported separately;
17. the operating method to be followed in the event of accident or breakdown; if a blockage is likely to occur, the operating method to be followed so as to enable the equipment to be safely unblocked;
18. the description of the adjustment and maintenance operations that should be carried out by the user and the preventive maintenance measures that should be observed;
19. instructions designed to enable adjustment and maintenance to be carried out safely, including the protective measures that should be taken during these operations;
20. the specifications of the spare parts to be used, when these affect the health and safety of operators;
21. the following information on airborne noise emissions:
    • - the A-weighted emission sound pressure level at workstations, where this exceeds 70 dB(A); where this level does not exceed 70 dB(A), this fact must be indicated,
    • - the peak C-weighted instantaneous sound pressure value at workstations, where this exceeds 63 Pa (130 dB in relation to 20 μPa),
    • the A-weighted sound power level emitted by the machinery, where the A-weighted emission sound pressure level at workstations exceeds 80 dB(A).

    These values must be either those actually measured for the machinery in question or those established on the basis of measurements taken for technically comparable machinery which is representative of the machinery to be produced.

22. where machinery is likely to emit non-ionising radiation which may cause harm to persons, in particular persons with active or non-active implantable medical devices, information concerning the radiation emitted for the operator and exposed persons.

All of the information given in italics, is a direct copy from the actual Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The information provided is normally given in general terms. Machinery Instruction Handbook has a dedicated harmonized standard;

EN ISO 20607:2019 Safety of machinery – Instruction handbook – General drafting principles

It must be remembered that the instructions MUST BE in the local language of the user country. This will normally involve a translation fee. This CAN NOT be negotiated, it is a mandatory requirement of 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive.