Articles 26 and 27 of the Machinery Regulation 2023/1230: how a notified body is designated and notified

Direct answer: Articles 26 and 27 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 govern the process by which a Member State communicates to the European Commission and the other EU countries which bodies are authorised to carry out third-party conformity assessment tasks — the so-called "notified bodies" — and which national authority ("notifying authority") is responsible for designating, assessing and monitoring them. A manufacturer who needs an EU-type examination, full quality assurance or unit verification — the Article 25 procedures that require third-party involvement — can only turn to a body that is officially notified in the European Commission's NANDO database. This article explains how this institutional mechanism works and why it matters when choosing whom to certify your machinery with.

Regulation 2023/1230, fully applicable from 20 January 2027, retains the notification system inherited from the European accreditation framework of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, but integrates it into Chapter V, dedicated entirely to the notification of conformity assessment bodies.

What exactly does Article 26 require Member States to do?

Article 26 is brief but is the cornerstone of the entire third-party system: "Member States shall notify the Commission and the other Member States of the bodies authorised to carry out third-party conformity assessment tasks pursuant to this Regulation". Without this notification, no body — however technically competent it may be — can act as a notified body for the purposes of the Article 25 procedures that require the involvement of an independent third party (EU-type examination under Annex VII, full quality assurance under Annex IX, or unit verification under Annex X).

This means that a testing laboratory with excellent technical accreditation, but whose Member State has not formally notified it to the Commission, cannot issue valid EU-type examination certificates across the territory of the Union. Notification is therefore a constitutive requirement, not merely a declaratory one.

Who designates notified bodies in each country?

Article 27(1) requires each Member State to designate a notifying authority, responsible for establishing and carrying out the procedures necessary to assess and notify conformity assessment bodies, and for monitoring them on an ongoing basis, including compliance with Article 32 of the Regulation (withdrawal of the notification when the body ceases to meet the requirements).

Article 27(2) introduces an important element of flexibility: Member States may decide that the assessment and monitoring of notified bodies is to be carried out by a national accreditation body, as defined in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008. In Spain, this function falls to the Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC), which technically assesses candidate bodies in accordance with EN ISO/IEC 17065 and other harmonised accreditation standards, while the formal notifying authority vis-à-vis the Commission is usually the ministry responsible for industry.

Can the notifying authority delegate its functions?

Yes, subject to strict conditions. Article 27(3) allows the notifying authority to delegate or otherwise entrust the assessment, notification or monitoring to a body that is not a governmental entity, but requires that body to have legal personality and to comply, mutatis mutandis, with the same independence, impartiality and competence requirements that Article 30 of the Regulation imposes on conformity assessment bodies themselves — requirements we analyse in detail in the next article of this series. In addition, that delegated body must have arrangements in place to cover the liabilities arising from its activities, typically through civil liability insurance.

Article 27(4) closes the loop with a precision that is relevant to the legal certainty of the system: even where the notifying authority delegates these tasks, it assumes full responsibility for the tasks carried out by the delegated body. Operational delegation does not dilute the Member State's institutional responsibility towards the Commission and the other Member States.

A practical case: choosing a notified body for a vehicle lift

Talleres Industriales Bracons S.A., a fictional manufacturer of lifts for vehicle maintenance — a category included in Annex I, Part A, point 3, of the Regulation — needed to start an EU-type examination procedure under Article 25(2). Its quality department initially contacted a mechanical testing laboratory with an excellent technical reputation, but on checking the NANDO database found that this laboratory was not notified with a specific scope for lifting machinery under Regulation 2023/1230, but only for materials testing under a different sectoral directive. Bracons had to restart the search and select a body with an active NANDO identification number and an express scope for "vehicle lifts and lifting equipment" under the Machinery Regulation, thereby avoiding a certificate that would have been legally invalid.

IgeraIndustria in action: verifying the status of a notified body

What happens if a notified body stops meeting the requirements?

The ongoing monitoring imposed by Article 27(1) is not a bureaucratic formality: if the notifying authority detects that a body has stopped meeting the independence, technical competence or impartiality requirements set out in Article 30, it must initiate the procedure for restricting, suspending or withdrawing the notification provided for in Article 32 of the Regulation. Certificates already issued before the withdrawal in principle retain their validity, unless it is shown that they were issued in breach of the applicable requirements, in which case market surveillance authorities may challenge them under the Article 43 procedure, which we analyse in another article of this series.

Frequently asked questions about Articles 26 and 27

Where can I check the official list of notified bodies?

In the NANDO (New Approach Notified and Designated Organisations) database managed by the European Commission, publicly accessible on its website. Each notified body is listed with its four-digit identification number and the exact detail of its technical scope — which categories of machinery and which assessment annexes it can apply.

Can a body notified in another Member State certify my machine manufactured in Spain?

Yes. One of the essential features of the European notification system is that a certificate issued by any notified body in the Union — regardless of which Member State notified it — is valid throughout the territory of the EU. The manufacturer may freely choose any notified body with the appropriate technical scope; they are not limited to bodies in their own country.

What is the difference between accreditation and notification?

Accreditation is the technical assessment of a body's competence in accordance with international standards such as EN ISO/IEC 17065, usually carried out by the national accreditation body (ENAC in Spain). Notification is the subsequent administrative act, regulated by Article 26 of the Regulation, by which the Member State formally informs the Commission that the accredited body is authorised to act as a notified body under the Machinery Regulation. A body can be accredited without yet being notified.

Does the notifying authority charge for its assessment services?

The Regulation does not directly regulate the fees charged by the notifying authority to candidate bodies — unlike Article 25(5), which does require notified bodies to take SMEs into account when setting their own fees towards manufacturers. In practice, both ENAC and the competent ministries apply administrative fees regulated by national legislation.

Can a trade association act as a notified body?

Article 30(3), which we analyse in detail in the next article of this series, provides for this possibility on an exceptional basis: a body belonging to a trade association or professional federation representing undertakings involved in the design, manufacture, supply, assembly, use or maintenance of the machinery it assesses may be considered a conformity assessment body, provided its independence and the absence of any conflict of interest are demonstrated.

Can IgeraIndustria check the NANDO database directly for me?

IgeraIndustria helps prepare the technical documentation and identify what scope of notified body your machine needs under Articles 25, 26 and 27 of the Regulation, guiding you on the verification criteria you should apply to any candidate body, although the final consultation and engagement of the notified body is always the manufacturer's responsibility.

Last updated: July 2026 | Author: Jordi Bassols, Industrial Safety Engineer, COEIC Registered | Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2023 on machinery, Articles 26 and 27 (OJ L 165, 29.6.2023); Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on accreditation and market surveillance; European Commission NANDO database. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or engineering advice. IgeraIndustria — free trial. EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or engineering advice. For the conformity assessment of your machinery, consult a notified body or a qualified industrial safety engineer.