WIREDGOV

The Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER I) approved by the Lithuanian EU Council Presidency, the European Parliament and the Commission informally agreed text on updating references and terminology of five EU Directives to bring them into line with the applicable EU chemical classification and labelling legislation.

The new Directive will set minimum requirements for encouraging improvements in the working environment, and ensure a better level of protection of the health and safety of workers. 

According to the Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania Algimanta Pabedinskienė, it is important that good health and safety standards are not seen as constraints, as they are fundamental rights and should be applied without exception to all sectors of the labour market and all types of undertakings regardless of their size. 

“In view of ongoing technological progress the agreed update of EU chemical classification and labelling legislation will help ensure a proper level of health and safety protection when hazardous chemical substances and mixtures are present in the working environment,“ said the Lithuanian Minister. 

After today’s endorsement of the agreed compromise by COREPER, the Chair of the Committee ambassador Arūnas Vinčiūnas signed a letter to be sent to the Employment Committee (EMPL) of the European Parliament proposing that an agreement in first reading could be reached, subject to Parliament adopting an identical text at its plenary session.

The Directives to be amended contain reference to EU chemical classification and labelling legislation which became outdated following the adoption of the Regulation 1272/2008 on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures. It established a new system for the classification and labelling of substances and mixtures within the Union, based on the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) at international level. 

Background: 

On 26 February 2013, the Commission submitted the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of The Council amending Council Directives 92/58/EEC, 92/85/EEC, 94/33/EC, 98/24/EC and Directive 2004/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, in order to align them to Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. 

Council Directives 92/58/EEC on minimum requirements for the provision of safety and/or health signs at work; 92/85/EEC on measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding; 94/33/EC on protection of young people at work; 98/24/EC on protection of the health and safety of workers from the risks related to chemical agents at work; 2004/37/EC on protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work contain references to the previous classification and labelling system. They should therefore be amended in order to align them to the new system laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. 

In the Council the examination of this legislative proposal started in May 2013. On 26 September 2013, the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) voted amendments to the text.