Robot suppliers face new safety standard challenges

KUKA is one of the world’s leading providers of robotics for the automotive industry. Questions about the updated ISO 10218 safety standard are becoming increasingly common in the robotics industry. Central to the discussion are CE certification requirements in Europe, as ISO 10218 is the key safety standard for industrial robots under the CE marking framework.

ISO 10218:2025 is the updated industrial robot safety standard and will become mandatory for CE-marked products under the new European Machinery Regulation. The legal transition is expected around 2027, although weakness in European manufacturing demand and potential cost pressures on small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) may push full implementation beyond this timeline. Unlike Europe’s binding CE framework, the equivalent U.S.

standard update is voluntary, though effective compliance remains commercially necessary. Established global vendors are largely prepared, while mid-sized and emerging suppliers show notable gaps in their readiness. Once adopted, the new standard is expected to strengthen established vendors’ competitive position and increase market access risks for those suppliers that are less well prepared.

The regulatory picture is shifting in a clear direction. In Europe, the current legislative instrument, Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, will be superseded by Machinery Regulation EU 2023/1230 on Jan. 20, 2027.

However, the timing of one critical supporting step remains uncertain: the formal listing of ISO 10218:2025 in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This is a prerequisite for the standard to obtain full legal effect under the new regulation. Once this process is complete, ISO 10218:2025 will become a mandatory requirement for market access in Europe.

Historically, when the 2011 edition of ISO 10218 was introduced, the harmonization process and OJEU listing took more than a year to complete. If a similar timeline is followed, the 2025 revision sits close to the 2027 regulatory transition deadline, with the process still ongoing as of mid-2026. In the U.S., the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) jointly released the updated R15.06-2025 safety standard in September 2025, aligning it with the international ISO standards.

However, unlike the European framework, ANSI standards are voluntary consensus guidelines and do not represent legally binding market access requirements. The European robotics market is currently operating in a relatively subdued demand environment. The market experienced contraction from 2023 to 2025, constrained by a slowdown in the overall manufacturing industry, particularly the automotive sector.