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(1) Self-propelled mobile machinery, falling within the scope of Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council , that is designed or constructed with the purpose to perform work (‘non-road mobile machinery’), might need, whether occasionally or regularly, to circulate on public roads, mostly to move from one working place to another.

(2) This Regulation covers only self-propelled machinery. Towed machinery equipment is not covered by this Regulation because such equipment is normally towed by motor vehicles falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council . Such equipment should be covered by Regulation (EU) 2018/858, which regulates the type-approval of motor vehicles including their trailers. The Commission should address the need to establish, under Regulation (EU) 2018/858, detailed technical requirements relating to the road safety of the specific category of towed machinery equipment, insofar as such equipment is not subject to such requirements under the existing rules.

(3) Certain aspects of the design and construction of non-road mobile machinery are already covered by Union harmonisation legislation, in particular by Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 of the European Parliament and of the Council , Directive 2000/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council , Directive 2006/42/EC, and Directives 2014/30/EU and 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.

(4) As regards the safety of mobile machinery, Directive 2006/42/EC is the main regulatory act applying to that machinery when placed on the market. It sets out essential health and safety requirements covering the off-road travelling functions of mobile machinery such as slowing down, stopping, braking, driving positions and restraint systems. However, the essential health and safety requirements set out in that Directive are only designed to address safety when the machinery is at work, and do not cover the safety aspects of that machinery when circulating on public roads.

(5) Due to the absence of harmonised rules on the road safety of non-road mobile machinery, economic operators that produce, or make available on the market, non-road mobile machinery face significant costs associated with differing regulatory requirements across the Members States. In addition, the road safety of that machinery is not ensured uniformly in the whole territory of the Union. Therefore, it is necessary to establish harmonised rules at Union level with respect to the road safety of non-road mobile machinery.

(6) For the purposes of the development and operation of the internal market, it is appropriate to establish a harmonised type-approval system and an individual approval system for the road safety of non-road mobile machinery intended to circulate on public roads.

(7) The objective of this Regulation is to address the risks associated with the intended circulation of non-road mobile machinery on public roads. Thus, non-road mobile machinery that, in practice, is not intended to circulate on public roads should be excluded from the scope of this Regulation.

(8) Since the purpose of this Regulation is to address the risks stemming from the road circulation of non-road mobile machinery designed and constructed for performing work and not for the transport of persons, animals or goods, except insofar as it carries materials that contribute to its operation, this Regulation should not apply to machinery the only objective of which is the transport of persons, animals or goods. All types of new personal mobility devices, such as stand-up and seated e-scooters, electrically assisted pedal cycles including electrically power-assisted cycles and those intended for carrying commercial cargo, self-balancing vehicles including self-balancing personal transporters and hoverboards, electric unicycles, electric skateboards and ‘one-wheel’ boards, are therefore not subject to this Regulation.

(9) Since the purpose of this Regulation is to address road circulation of non-road mobile machinery designed and constructed for performing work, and not to transport workers, mobile machinery which is equipped with more than three seating positions, including the driver’s seating position, is also excluded from the scope of this Regulation. Any space should be considered as a seating position if it is designed for use when the non-road mobile machinery is circulating on public roads and can be reasonably used as such and it allows a fifth percentile adult female to be seated.

(10) This Regulation should cover only non-road mobile machinery intended to circulate on public roads and that is placed on the market from the date of application of this Regulation and is either new non-road mobile machinery produced by a manufacturer established in the Union or non-road mobile machinery, whether new or second-hand, imported from a third country.

(11) This Regulation should apply to non-road mobile machinery intended to circulate on public roads irrespective of its propulsion system and, therefore, should also apply to electric and hybrid machinery. This Regulation should be without prejudice to the electric safety requirements related to electric drives laid down in Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

(12) Slow non-road mobile machinery represents the majority of the non-road mobile machinery market. In addition, some Member States have established a road circulation speed limit for non-road mobile machinery of 40 km/h. Moreover, as road safety risks are proportional to road speed, it would not be coherent for a framework that addresses safety risks only for non-road mobile machinery and not for regular vehicles to cover either fast non-road mobile machinery or non-road mobile machinery not exceeding 6 km/h. This Regulation should therefore not apply to mobile machinery with a maximum design speed not exceeding 6 km/h or exceeding 40 km/h.

(13) In some specific well defined cases, manufacturers should have a choice to use national schemes, EU type-approval or EU individual approval. Given the particularities of prototypes of non-road mobile machinery intended to be used on the road under the responsibility of the manufacturer to carry out specific development test programmes or field tests, non-road mobile machinery designed and constructed or adapted for use by civil protection, fire services and forces responsible for maintaining public order and non-road mobile machinery used primarily in quarries or at airports, it is appropriate to allow manufacturers’ flexibility regarding the approval scheme they apply for.

(14) This can also be the case for small and medium sized enterprises producing non-road mobile machinery in numbers of units that are made available on the market, registered or entered into service not exceeding, per year and in each Member State, 70 units per type.

(15) Though Member States will be able to establish national schemes for the non-road mobile machinery described in recitals 13 and 14, Member States that have not established such a scheme should require manufacturers, for that non-road mobile machinery, to comply with this Regulation. In addition, the Member States that have established such a scheme should allow manufacturers to choose to comply with this Regulation in order to benefit from free movement.

(16) Given that, in certain instances, non-road mobile machinery, due to its excessive dimensions, would not allow for sufficient manoeuvrability on public roads or could, due to its excessive mass, axle loads or ground contact pressure, damage the surface of public roads or other road infrastructure, or due to its fully automated driving systems for on-road use, it is appropriate to provide a discretion to Member States to prohibit the circulation on public roads or registration of such machinery, even if it has been type-approved in accordance with this Regulation. In order to ensure a high level of harmonisation for non-road mobile machinery across the Union, it is important that Member States only prohibit the circulation on public roads of a limited number of machines. Therefore, both the Member States and the Commission should set sufficiently high threshold values to allow as many type-approved machines as possible to circulate on public roads in the territory of the Union.

(17) In order to minimise the risk of injury to persons and of damage to road infrastructure while non-road mobile machinery is circulating on public roads, technical requirements should be set out. The technical requirements should include subjects relating to road safety such as vehicle structure integrity, maximum design speed, speed governor, speed limitation devices and speedometer, braking devices, steering, field of vision, and masses and dimensions. The technical requirements should take into account synergies between the machinery function and the on-road use function of the non-road mobile machinery. In order to keep those technical requirements sufficiently future-proof, the Commission can lay down rules for additional requirements due to technical and scientific progress, such as driver assistance systems and automated and remotely operated driving systems.