normakte / Archive and export
A QR code on a nameplate is a decade-long decision. The nameplate cannot be changed afterwards — nor can the address behind it.
The Machinery Regulation allows the instructions in digital form. One of the four conditions: they remain accessible online for the expected lifetime, at least ten years after placing on the market. The same period applies to a digitally provided EU declaration of conformity.
Ten years outlast most website relaunches, several CMSs and often the provider itself. Whoever points the QR code at a provider's domain has stamped a decade-long dependency into metal. That is why we say it against our own interest: point the printed code at your own domain and redirect internally. Control then stays with you, whether normakte still exists in ten years or not.
Three levels, of which only the first is immutable:
| Level | Example | Changeable? |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Print on the nameplate | your-company.com/a/M-2027-0413 | no, stamped |
| 2. Redirect on your domain | 301 to the current target | yes, by you at any time |
| 3. Target page with the documents | instructions, declaration, support period | yes, provider replaceable |
The identifier should be meaningful and stable: type or series, year of construction, serial number — exactly the particulars already on the machine (Art. 10(5)). No random strings, no database IDs, no provider name in the address.
This is what a target page looks like — an example with a fictitious machine, open it on your phone too.
The retention and availability duties rest with the manufacturer. They do not pass to the provider by using a service. A monthly-cancellable contract cannot, by its very term, carry a ten-year duty. What a service provides is convenience and order: complete, versioned, exportable documents, and deadlines that are not overlooked.
Register of all Machinery Regulation requirements, documents with checksum, declaration and nameplate with QR code – one trial file free until 20.01.2027.
Sources. References from the versions published in the OJ: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230; Directive 2006/42/EC; Regulation (EU) 2024/2847. The official text prevails; normakte is a drafting aid, not legal advice.