CE marking: what the machine can show, and who signs for it
A declaration of conformity is signed for one machine, not for a product type – so the documentation hangs on the serial number. Open a produced unit and you see what it is built from, what was logged during production, and which requirements are confirmed, by whom and when. Before anyone signs, the page lists what is ‘not confirmed’: you sign with your eyes open, and the gaps become part of the declaration exactly as they stood that day. The name and the authority are entered by hand, because it is the manufacturer who declares conformity – not the system, which only records what the documentation showed. A declaration that turns out to be wrong is withdrawn with a reason, never deleted. Nothing new is asked of the people building the machine: the serial number, the bill of materials and the production log are already there. The list before the signature is not only the requirements: a residual risk that has not been passed on to the user – no warning on the machine, no section in the instructions – stands there too.