Whether or not a hazard emanates from a machine is not a criterion by which application of the Machinery Directive can be defined.
The Machinery Directive must be applied if the machine can be assigned to one of the product categories covered by Article 1 Paragraph 1, is not excluded in Paragraph 2 of this article and does not fall under the scope of another specific directive in accordance with Article 3.
Some EU member states are calling for a "franchise clause", which will exclude non-dangerous products from the scope of the Machinery Directive. However, such a clause was intentionally left out of the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC.