16 May 2022, 10:28
On 3rd May, CECE President Alexandre Marchetta met with Mr Gwenole Cozigou, Deputy Director General Construction & Machinery at the European Commission (EC) DG GROW. The new Acting head of unit for machinery, Mr Hocine, the unit’s legal officer, Ms Piedrafita and the construction unit’s policy officer, Ms Papadaki were also present. The main goal of the meeting was to introduce the new CECE President to one of the main policymakers in Brussels – DG GROW.
During the meeting, the two delegations discussed three different topics: Machinery regulation, Road Circulation harmonisation and the construction industry transition pathways.
On Machinery, the EC explained the main reasons behind the revision of the current Machinery Directive and what it aims to achieve with it, including addressing the challenges of AI and New Technologies. CECE reinforced the importance not to burden manufacturers with mandatory third-party certification and asked the EC to ensure a correct transition period, especially because CECE members will support revising potentially 800 Harmonised Standards listed under the Machinery Directive. With his own managerial experience, CECE President explained the misunderstanding behind certain positions by the EC and the need for proper market surveillance if the EU is to enforce its rules.
On Road Circulation, Alexandre Marchetta argued again in favour of harmonisation in order to simplify approval and lower costs for non-road mobile machinery (NRMM). While thanking CECE for the engagement and the support on this file, Mr Cozigou explained that the EC is currently drafting the proposal, which is expected to be presented after summer 2022. Technical requirements will be developed in the future, through secondary legislation. While reminding that this legislative process is taking more time than expected by industry, CECE stressed the importance of legislation with a large scope, including towed equipment, that should be based on the technical requirements developed by the European Industrial Task Force on NRMM.
On transition pathways, there was a brief discussion on what is expected in terms of input from the European construction industry ecosystem. This work is undertaken by the EC within the framework of the European Industrial Strategy, which has singled out the construction industry as a key sector for the digital and green transitions. CECE confirmed its commitment to this non-legislative process, thanking the Commission for the political commitment but reminding policymakers of the need to always involve the Construction 2050 Alliance.
Ending the meeting, both CECE and the EC reinforced the willingness to continue cooperating and ensuring the participation of construction equipment manufactures on different topics.
Source: CECE - Committee for European Construction Equipment