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The 2027 Machinery Regulation and Turkey:
What Happens on Both Sides of the Border

By Vedat Güven, terminology consultant at Alafranga Language Solutions. This is the third article in a series: what the EU Machinery Regulation changes in your documentation and why CE documentation does not end at the Turkish border.
 
Until October, the January 2027 deadline was an EU date. A European manufacturer selling machinery into Turkey could reasonably ask whether Turkey would follow, and when. That question is now answered. On 16 October 2026, Turkey published its new Machine Safety Regulation, Makine Emniyeti Yönetmeliği (2023/1230/AB), in the Official Gazette No. 33402. It is aligned with Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 and applies from the same date: 20 January 2027.
 
For documentation teams, this means one deadline on both sides of the border, and two directions of traffic that are affected at the same time.


 

 

▮Two directions, one date

Machinery documentation crosses the EU-Turkey border in both directions. European manufacturers sell machines and components into Turkey and need Turkish instructions and declarations. Turkish manufacturers, for whom the EU is the largest export market, sell into the EU and need documentation in the languages of every member state where they sell.
 
Under the Directive, both flows referred to legal texts that were aligned but not identical in date or wording. From 20 January 2027, both refer to the same Regulation, applied on the same day. That simplifies the legal picture. It does not simplify the documentation, because every document in both directions now needs revision within the same window.
 

▮What the Turkish regulation says about language

The new Turkish regulation is more specific about documentation than many readers expect. Four points matter most:
 
  • Instructions in Turkish. Instructions, safety information and the information required under Annex III must be in Turkish and easy for users to understand (Article 11).

  • Digital instructions, with conditions. Instructions may be supplied in digital format. The manufacturer must state how to access them, make them printable and downloadable, and keep them available online for at least ten years after the machine is placed on the market. A user who asks at the time of purchase receives a paper copy free of charge within one month.

  • Partly completed machinery. Assembly instructions follow the same rules and must also be in Turkish (Article 12).

  • Checks along the supply chain. Importers must ensure that the machine is accompanied by its instructions (Article 14). Distributors must verify, before making a machine available, that the instructions are present and in Turkish (Article 16); the same applies to assembly instructions for partly completed machinery (Article 17).

The last point changes the dynamics of the Turkish market. Under the old arrangement, a distributor could accept whatever Turkish text arrived with the machine. Under the new one, the distributor carries an obligation to check it. Expect distributors to start asking manufacturers harder questions about their Turkish documentation in 2027.
 

▮The terminology is moving

When a regulation is re-issued, its terms are re-issued with it. Some Turkish terms that documentation teams have used for years remain; others change. The new regulation uses, for example:
 
English German Turkish (2026 regulation)
EU declaration of conformity EU-Konformitätserklärung AB uygunluk beyanı
Declaration of incorporation Einbauerklärung AB bütünleştirme beyanı
Partly completed machinery Unvollständige Maschine Kısmen tamamlanmış makine
Substantial modification Wesentliche Veränderung Önemli değişiklik
Notified body Benannte Stelle Onaylanmış kuruluş
 
The declaration of incorporation is the clearest example. Turkish documents have often used other wordings for it; the regulation now fixes the term. A declaration of incorporation translated in 2026 with older wording will read fluently and look outdated to anyone who checks it against the regulation.
 
Other areas are not settled at all. The EU Regulation's requirements for machinery with self-evolving behaviour have no established Turkish term yet, and the Turkish text refers to high-risk AI systems rather than defining the concept. Until harmonised standards and their TS EN adoptions settle the vocabulary, the safest course is a client glossary that records each decision, so that it can be updated in one place when the standards arrive.
 

▮For European manufacturers selling into Turkey

  • Revise the source first. Update the declaration of conformity, the legal references and any new content under Regulation 2023/1230, then translate. Translating the Directive-era text now means paying for it twice.

  • Use the regulation's Turkish terms. Build the Turkish glossary from the 2026 regulation and the applicable TS EN standards, not from older translations.

  • Plan for digital and paper. If you supply instructions digitally, the Turkish version must meet the same access and retention conditions, and paper copies must be available on request.

  • Tell your distributor. Your distributor will have to check the Turkish instructions. A short note explaining what was revised and why saves questions at the point of sale.

▮For Turkish manufacturers selling into the EU

  • The EU deadline is yours too. Machinery placed on the EU market from 20 January 2027 needs a declaration and instructions under Regulation 2023/1230, in the languages of the member states where it is sold.

  • Translate from Turkish directly where you can. A Turkish source translated into German through an English intermediate version doubles the risk of drift in terms, values and warnings. Direct Turkish-German translation keeps one step between the engineer and the reader.

  • Keep one terminology across both markets. The same machine is now documented under the same legal concepts in Turkish and in every EU language. One multilingual glossary, maintained in one place, is cheaper than reconciling separate ones later.

  • Start in 2026. The same translators, reviewers and notified bodies will be busy on both sides of the border in the last weeks before the deadline.

▮Where we fit

Turkish has been our founding language since 2002, and machinery documentation has been part of our work from the start: instructions, declarations, safety documentation and technical files, in both directions. We translate German-Turkish directly, and work in more than 40 languages for manufacturers who sell into several markets at once. See technical translation, industrial manufacturing and compliance, safety and standards.
 

▮Frequently Asked Questions

  • Does Turkey apply the new Machinery Regulation? Yes. Turkey published its new Makine Emniyeti Yönetmeliği (2023/1230/AB) in the Official Gazette No. 33402 on 16 October 2026. It is aligned with Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 and applies from 20 January 2027, the same date as in the EU.

  • Can machinery instructions be supplied only in digital form in Turkey? Instructions may be supplied digitally if they are printable, downloadable and available online for at least ten years. A user who asks at the time of purchase must receive a free paper copy within one month. Instructions must be in Turkish.

  • What must Turkish distributors check? Before making a machine available, distributors must verify that the instructions accompany it and are in Turkish. For partly completed machinery, the same applies to the assembly instructions.

  • Which Turkish term does the new regulation use for the declaration of incorporation? AB bütünleştirme beyanı. The EU declaration of conformity is AB uygunluk beyanı, partly completed machinery is kısmen tamamlanmış makine, and substantial modification is önemli değişiklik.

  • Do Turkish manufacturers exporting to the EU need new documentation? Yes. Machinery placed on the EU market from 20 January 2027 needs a declaration of conformity and instructions under Regulation 2023/1230, in the languages of the member states where it is sold.