Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 is the EU law on machinery that replaces Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, setting health and safety requirements for machinery and safety components placed on the EU market, including industrial trucks.
Unlike the directive it replaces, the regulation applies directly in every member state without national transposition, and it applies from 20 January 2027. It adds requirements for machinery with connected and software-based functions, including protection against corruption, and it lists safety components with fully or partially self-evolving behavior that use machine learning to ensure safety functions among the categories that need third-party conformity assessment.
For forklift safety this matters in two places: AI-based detection systems sold as safety components in the EU, and substantial modifications to trucks, such as retrofits that change safety functions, which can make the person carrying out the modification responsible as a manufacturer. US companies are affected when they buy, modify or ship equipment for EU sites. This is a summary, not legal advice; check the text and current Commission guidance. See forklift safety standards.