Directive 2007/30/EC amending Directive 89/391/EEC and its individual Directives with a view to simplifying and rationalising the reports on practical implementation

Article 137 of the Treaty to implement improvements of the working environment to protect workers' health and safety.

The 1989 Framework Directive obliges EU Member States to report to the Commission on practical implementation of the legislation and its individual Directives. Given the irregular frequency of such reports and the absence of harmonisation of their content, the Commission aimed to simplify and rationalise this evaluation mechanism. After consulting the European social partners, the Commission came forward with a proposal for a Directive amending Directive 89/391 and its individual Directives, along with a set of other OHS Directives (in particular on the protection of temporary workers and young workers). The text was adopted on 20 June 2007 by the European Parliament and the Council.

• The Directive requires that Member States submit every five years a single report on implementation of European OHS legislation. The national reports are to be drawn up on the basis of a questionnaire drafted by the European Commission after consulting the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work, which brings together the governments and European social partners in Luxembourg (referred to hereafter as the Luxembourg Committee). Directive 2007/30/EC establishes that the national reports must include a general part as well as specific chapters relating to the aspects particular to each Directive.
• The Directive (Article 17a) broadens the reporting obligation to include biological agents, carcinogens and mutagens, which previously were not covered, as well as any new Directives based on the 1989 Framework Directive.
• Within 36 months of the end of the five-year period, the Commission must present its assessment of implementation in the Member States of European OHS legislation to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Luxembourg Committee. The Commission must also inform them of any initiatives to improve the operation of the European regulatory framework. The new evaluation mechanism covers the 2007-2012 period.

A working group has been set up within the Luxembourg Committee to prepare its participation in the drafting of the evaluation questionnaire.

Directive 2007/30/EC is available from: EUR-Lex
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EU Occupational Safety and Health Strategy 2007-2012

Article 137 of the Treaty to implement improvements of the working environment to protect workers' health and safety.

On 21 February 2007, the European Commission issued a Communication setting out a proposal for a new European Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Strategy to run from 2007-2012.
This Strategy succeeds the 2002-2006 strategy Adapting to change in work and society: a new Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006. It sets the agenda for the next five years in terms of OSH policy development in Europe.

The new strategy for 2007-2012, titled Improving quality and productivity at work: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work, aims to achieve an overall 25% reduction of occupational accidents. It sets out a series of actions at European and national levels in the following main areas:

• improving and simplifying existing legislation and enhancing its implementation in practice through non-binding instruments;
• defining and implementing national strategies adjusted to the specific context of each Member State;
• mainstreaming of health and safety at work in other national and European policy areas (education, public health, research);
• better identifying and assessing potential new risks through more research, exchange of knowledge and practical application of results.

The ETUC stated that the new Commission strategy is the poorest in terms of concrete initiatives proposed since the first Community action programme adopted in 1978.
The ETUC recalls that accidents at work form only a limited part of the health problems caused by work. The ETUC regrets that the communication says nothing about precisely how occupational diseases, in particular those related to cancers and MSD, will be brought down.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Community strategy
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EU Chemicals Strategy: REACH

Articles 94 and 95 of the Treaty on the establishment and functioning of the internal market.

On 13 December 2006, the European Parliament adopted in second reading the compromise it negotiated with Council on the new regulation for chemicals, REACH, which will oblige producers to register all those chemical substances produced or imported above a total quantity of 1 tonne per year. The regulation will enter into force progressively from June 2007, and the registration process will take 11 years to be completed. The calendar for registration depends on the risk of the substance and the quantity produced. All covered substances will have to be registered by 2018. REACH also creates a new Chemicals Agency, to be based in Helsinki, which will be responsible for managing the new system, including the authorisation process.

Burden of proof: the regulation transfers the burden of proof regarding testing and evaluation of the risks of chemicals from the authorities to industry.

Authorisation of substances of very high concern: for the most dangerous substances, there will be an obligation for producers to obtain an authorisation before using or placing them on the market. They will have also to submit a substitution plan to replace them with safer alternatives. Where no alternative exists, producers will have to present a research and development plan aimed at finding one.

Registration: REACH requires manufacturers and importers of chemical substances (³ 1 tonne/year) to obtain information on the physicochemical, health and environmental properties of their substances and use it to determine how these substances can be used safely. Manufacturers and importers must pre-register substances that are already on the EU market (so-called phase-in substances), if they want to benefit from transitional arrangements that allow registering them at a later stage. Pre-registration also enables registrants to share data with other registrants and avoid carrying out redundant tests. The pre-registration period is limited from 1 June 2008 to 1 December 2008.

Communication in the supply chain: Suppliers of substances must pass on information on the health, safety and environmental properties and safe use of their chemicals to their downstream users (via a Safety Data Sheet or other means). Downstream users may only use substances classified as dangerous or which are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT and vPvB) if they apply risk management measures identified on the basis of exposure scenarios for their use.

The ETUC welcomed the adoption of this crucial legislation but regrets the fact that information vital to protecting workers’ health given in the chemical safety reports will now only be required for a third of the chemicals originally planned.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Chemicals
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Revision of Asbestos Prohibition Directive 1999/77/EC

Council Directive 76/769/EEC of 27 July 1976.

On 26 July 1999, the European Commission adopted a Directive banning asbestos in the EU as of 1 January 2005. The Directive included a provisional opt-out, however, allowing Member States to authorize the use of asbestos in “diaphragms for existing electrolysis installations until they reach the end of their service life, or until suitable asbestos-free substitutes become available, whichever is the sooner”, with the proviso that this exception would be reviewed before 1 January 2008.

DG Enterprise held a “closed-doors” consultation of Member States, deliberately shutting the unions out. Working on inaccurate information supplied by the chemical industry, the Commission has decided to keep the authorization to use asbestos in place - a position supported by the Polish, German and British governments in particular.

On 14 September 2007, Kartika Liotard MEP put down a parliamentary question pointing out the inaccuracies in the industry case espoused by DG Enterprise.

There are no good grounds for authorizing the use of asbestos when replacements exist that can avoid workers being exposed to this carcinogen.

The procedure followed is outrageous. Trade unions, and the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work, were kept in the dark about the consultation which was based on erroneous information. The Commission’s claim that workers are not at risk is not based on any independent assessment. It takes the industry case at face value.

See: "Undemocratic Action by Brussels Bureaucrats" on the IBAS website
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Revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (amending Directive 2004/37/EC)

Article 137 of the Treaty.

In April 2007, the European Commission launched the second stage of consultation of the European social partners with a view to the revision of the Carcinogens Directive. The revision process had been launched three years earlier to adapt the text to changes in scientific knowledge, technical progress and the world of work.

In its response to the second stage of consultation, submitted in late May 2007, the ETUC called for expanding the scope of Directive 2004/37/EC to include substances toxic to reproduction (categories 1 and 2). The ETUC considers that such inclusion would increase synergy between "health at the workplace" legislation and the REACH regulation, which entered into force on 1 June 2007. The ETUC further considers that the binding occupational exposure limit values (OELVs) for benzene, vinyl chloride monomer and hard wood dust must be made more restrictive. Binding OELVs should also be set for other substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction. In particular, the ETUC singles out crystalline silica, a carcinogen to which four million European workers are exposed and for which no limit value exists at European level.

The complete ETUC response is available from http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Occupational cancers
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European Commission's proposal for a Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

The Globally harmonised system of classification and labelling of chemicals (GHS) was developed by the United Nations with the aim of ensuring that identical criteria are used worldwide for the classification and labelling of dangerous chemicals.

On 27 June 2007, the European Commission adopted a proposal to bring the European system of classification, labelling and packaging of substances and preparations into line with the GHS. The proposal for the European regulation for the GHS is still awaiting adoption by the European Parliament and Council. After a transitional period, the new legislation will replace the current classification and labelling rules for hazardous chemicals at Union level (Directive 67/548/EEC for C&L of dangerous chemicals and Directive 1999/45/EEC for C&L of dangerous preparations).

The ETUC is firmly opposed to the Commission's proposal to remove from the scope of the Chemicals Directive the additional substances to be classified as dangerous under the new GHS, and likewise opposes any declassification of the dangerous substances listed in Annex I of Directive 67/548/EEC without a thorough reassessment of the (eco)toxicological data.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Chemicals
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Social partner consultation on protecting workers from MSD

Article 138 of the Treaty.

The Community obligations on protecting workers from musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are fulfilled at present through the general requirements of the 1989 Framework Directive plus a string of individual directives (workplaces, work equipment, manual handling of loads, VDU and vibrations).

A Community initiative on preventing MSD was provided for in the health and safety strategy 2002-2006.

The European Commission launched in March 2007 the second phase of consultation of the European social partners. In its proposal, the Commission considers that a legislative initiative, setting out a revised, integrated and more legible EU regulatory framework on musculoskeletal disorders, might be appropriate. According to the Commission, the current individual directives do not cover all types of work situations or address all risk factors leading to work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

The envisaged directive would provide a comprehensive definition of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and work-related risk factors, based on the latest evidence available in the ergonomics and epidemiological literature. Particular attention would be given to the following biomechanical risk factors: force, repetition, awkward postures, static postures and contact stress.

In its reply to the Commission in April 2007, the ETUC called for a new directive specific to MSD prevention through a consideration of all risk factors including non biomechanical ones such as work organisation, stressors, etc.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > MSD
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/consultations_en.htm
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Revision of the Working Time Directive
(amending Directive 93/104/EC)

Article 137 of the Treaty.

The Commission published proposals to amend the Working Time Directive on 22 September 2004, and revised proposals on 31 May 2005 (following the First Reading from the Parliament). The proposals must be agreed by Council and Parliament in co-decision.

In first reading, the EP had voted to end the use of the opt-out from the maximum 48 hour working week. A number of Member States, led by the UK, insist however to maintain national derogations from the principle.

The June 2006 Employment Council was unable to achieve a compromise. The main points on which deep divisions remain are preservation of national opt outs from and methods of calculating the maximum weekly working time (per contract or per worker).

At an extraordinary meeting of social affairs ministers held in Brussels on 7 November 2006, governments were unable for the fifth time in a row to resolve the problem. Five countries - France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus – rejected a final compromise solution drawn up by the Finnish EU presidency. Their main argument was that Europe should set a clear deadline for scrapping the provision allowing employees to work longer than the average of 48 hours per week set as a current ceiling by EU rules.

The ETUC’s positions on the main points at issue:
- scrap the opt out clause;
- on-call duty must be treated as working time in line with ECJ rulings;
- the four month reference period must be kept for calculating the maximum weekly working time.

www.etuc.org/a/1839
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Revision of the Carcinogens Directive
(amending Directive 90/394/EEC)

Article 137 of the Treaty.

In its communication Adapting to change in work and society: a new Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006, the Commission announced its intention to propose extending the scope of the Directive on carcinogenic agents to include reprotoxic substances. The Commission pointed out the need of adapting existing directives to changes in scientific knowledge, technical progress and the world of work. The Commission launched the first phase of social partner consultations in March 2004.

The second phase, long-awaited by the social partners, was launched by the Commission in April 2007. The social partners were requested to inform the Commission of their positions on other measures which might be envisaged, such as:

• extending the scope of Directive 2004/37/EC to include category 1 and 2 reprotoxic substances;
• including binding limit values for more substances in Directive 2004/37/EC;
• introducing objective criteria for setting binding occupational exposure limit values for carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances, explaining what these criteria should be, and indicating what should be the process for setting new limit values;
• training and information requirements (e.g. how existing measures could be implemented more effectively, examples of best practice, ways to improve coordination and sharing of information.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Chemicals
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Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning Community statistics on public health and health and safety

Article 285 of the Treaty.

The Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006 called on the Commission and the Member States to step up work in hand on harmonisation of statistics on accidents at work and occupational illnesses, so as to have available comparable data from which to make an objective assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the measures taken under the Community strategy.

In a proposal issued in February 2007, the Commission considers it is necessary now to give a firm basis through providing a basic legal act in the areas of public health and health and safety at work statistics.

There is no doubting the value of harmonising statistics. So great are the differences between Member States where occupational diseases are concerned that harmonisation of statistics will not be possible without a minimum harmonisation of systems for reporting and recognizing work-related illnesses. Ironically, this is one of the earliest things the Community set out to do but has never managed because the legal instruments adopted since 1962 are only recommendations.

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Commission proposal for the codification of Directive 83/477/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work

Article 137 (2) of the Treaty.

Council Directive 83/477/EEC of 19 September 1983 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work has undergone repeated and extensive amendment. The Commission wants to clarify and streamline it by codifying it.

The Commission presented its proposal to codify Directive 83/477/EEC in November 2006 and in May 2007 the Parliament tabled the legislative report (19/06/2007: 1st reading scheduled)

The Commission is proposing to codify all the provisions in force. It will help make the Community rules simpler to understand.

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Commission proposal for the codification of Directive 89/655/EEC concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work

Article 137 (2) of the Treaty.

Compliance with health and safety regulations in the use of work equipment is an important aspect of prevention measures. Since 1989 these measures have been the subject of a minimum harmonisation. The directive of 30 November 1989 has been amended several times so as to cover a large number of work situations (mainly related to work at a height) and to incorporate a broad approach to safety at work by referring to ergonomic principles.

The Commission presented its proposal to codify Directive 89/655/CEE in November 2006 and in April 2007 the Parliament tabled the legislative report (19/06/2007: 1st reading scheduled).

Codification may not make any changes to the content. The European Economic and Social Committee notes in an opinion that the Commission has breached this basic principle without explanation in the recitals on self-employed workers and training for workers required to use equipment to perform work at a height. .

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Adoption by the social partners of an autonomous European framework agreement to fight against harassment and violence at work

Article 139 (2) of the Treaty.

As announced in the European social partners work programme 2003-2005, the social partners organised a seminar on the issue of violence at work on 12 May 2005 to explore the possibility of opening up negotiations on this issue in the framework of Article 139 (2) of the Treaty

In December 2006, social partners finalised the negotiations on an autonomous European framework agreement to fight against harassment and violence at work.

On 26 April 2007, the text was officially signed by ETUC, BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME and CEEP. The implementation of this agreement will be carried out within three years.

Amongst other, the agreement provides a method to prevent, identify and manage problems of harassment and violence at work, which:

• requires enterprises to have a clear statement outlining that harassment and violence at the workplace are not tolerated and specifies the procedure to be followed in case of problems;
• recognises that the responsibility for determining, reviewing and monitoring the appropriate measures rests with the employer, in consultation with workers and/or their representatives;
• allows the provisions of the agreement to deal with cases of violence by third parties where appropriate.

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Directive 2006/25/EC on Physical Agents
(artificial optical radiation)

Article 137 of the Treaty, to implement improvements of the working environment to protect workers' health and safety.

Negotiations finished in October 2004 and political agreement was reached at the Council of Ministers in December 2004. The proposed Directive had its debate and vote on amendment by the EP in early September 2005. The main amendment was to remove the provisions on natural radiation.

At the Conciliation Committee meeting on 6 December 2005 it was agreed that the Directive would only cover optical radiation from artificial sources.

The Directive 2006/25/EC was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 27 April 2006. Member States have four years to bring it into practice. This Directive is the last in a series of four aimed at protecting workers from the dangers of various “physical agents” (the three others are on exposure to noise, to vibrations and to electromagnetic fields).

The new proposal introduces provisions on risk assessment, control of exposure, health surveillance and information, instruction and training. The Directive is based on the limit values incorporated in the guidelines issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

The ETUC had warned MEPs and the Council that these amendments will undermine the scope of the directive by putting natural UV radiation outside it. The Directive will now cover only damage to eyesight from artificial radiation and lasers, leaving the damaging effects of sunshine (cancer, eye and skin diseases) completely uncovered. Exposure to sunshine can be lethally damaging to the health of workers in many sectors (building, fishing, farming, tourism, etc.), as the European and WHO statistics on skin cancer mortality show.

http://hesa.etui-rehs.org > Main topics > Solar radiation
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Directive 2006/42/EC on Machinery

Article 95 of the Treaty, to facilitate the free movement of goods or services between Member States by removing technical barriers to trade.

Proposals for a Third Amendment to the Machinery Directive were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 26 January 2001, and broadly consisted of improvements designed to simplify and clarify the existing Directive.

On 24 September 2004, the Competitiveness Council reached a political agreement on the third amendment proposal.

The Directive has been approved and was published in the Official journal of the EU on 9 June 2006. The Directive came into force on 29 June 2006.

From 29 June 2006, Member States have two years to transpose the Directive into their domestic legislation. It will be applicable from 29th December 2009. Until that date, the current Machinery Directive 98/37/EC will continue to apply.

The definition of machinery has been revised to provide certainty in the law for users, by introducing the concept of “partly-completed machinery” into the new text. The Directive also emphasizes the key part played by risk assessment in safe machinery design, and tightens up the requirements on the contents of instruction handbooks.

The ETUC response to the Commission sent in March 2004 makes a series of recommendations for integrating workers’ experience into machinery design and on the definition of technical standards.

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