{"id":13184,"date":"2026-09-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my-swiss-company.com\/?p=13184"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T09:03:55","slug":"start-machinery-company-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my-swiss-company.com\/en\/start-machinery-company-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Start a machinery company in Switzerland: manufacture, import or sell under the Machinery Ordinance and CE marking"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Switzerland issues no licence to build, import or sell machinery. There is no register to join and no diploma to hold. What the law regulates is the product, not the company: a machine may only be placed on the Swiss market if it does not endanger people, animals, property or the environment, and if it meets the design, conformity assessment and documentation requirements of the EU Machinery Directive, which the Swiss Machinery Ordinance adopts wholesale.<\/p>\n

That single sentence explains the paradox every founder meets. The Federal authorities state plainly that CE marking is not required in Switzerland, yet the substance behind the marking is mandatory. This guide separates the two, assigns the obligations to the right role, and sets out what changes on 20 January 2027.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Contents<\/h3>\n
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  1. No licence, but a regulated product<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. CE marking in Switzerland: not required, conformity mandatory<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Manufacturer, representative, importer: who answers for the machine<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. 20 January 2027: the EU regulation and the new ordinance<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Who checks machines on the Swiss market<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. The workshop: plan approval, Suva and industrial status<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Importing, selling in Switzerland and exporting<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Legal form, financing and staff<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. The pitfalls of a machinery business<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    No licence, but a regulated product<\/h2>\n

    To start a machinery company in Switzerland you incorporate an ordinary company and begin trading. The regulatory weight sits on what you sell. The Machinery Ordinance (MachO, SR 819.14) governs the placing on the market and the market surveillance of machinery as understood by Directive 2006\/42\/EC, and refers directly to that directive for scope, definitions and requirements.<\/p>\n

    The category is broader than the word suggests. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, machinery covers machines, interchangeable equipment, safety components, lifting accessories, chains, ropes and webbing, removable mechanical transmission devices and partly completed machinery. A safety guard sold on its own is a product in scope; so is a lifting sling.<\/p>\n

    The core rule sits in Art. 2(1) MachO. Machinery may only be placed on the market if, when correctly installed, maintained and used as intended or under reasonably foreseeable conditions, it endangers neither the safety nor the health of persons and any domestic animals, nor the integrity of property, nor the environment. On top of that, the machine must satisfy the directive’s requirements on design, conformity assessment, the declaration of conformity, CE marking, the instruction manual and its language.<\/p>\n

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    Worth knowing<\/h4>\n

    Putting a machine into service counts as placing it on the market where no prior placing on the market occurred. A workshop that builds a special machine for its own production line is therefore in scope, even though nothing is ever sold. Showing machinery at a trade fair follows Art. 6(3) of the directive, which allows non-compliant demonstration machines provided the visible notice and safety measures are in place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    CE marking in Switzerland: not required, conformity mandatory<\/h2>\n

    This is where most founders lose their footing. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs states that CE marking is not required in Switzerland, and that affixing the CE marking is the responsibility of the manufacturer or its authorised representative. Both statements are accurate, and neither means a machine may be sold in Switzerland without meeting the requirements.<\/p>\n

    Two separate questions are at stake.<\/p>\n