CEEMET / ORGALIME Position on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents

(Optical Radiations)

The dossier is at odds with the Commission's better regulation principles endorsed in 2003 by the European Parliament and reiterated as a priority by the new Commission. No detailed impact assessment or any proper consultation of stakeholders accompanies the text, its true impact on business is still unknown and any benefits said to accrue from its introduction have not been identified.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the Council political agreement of 7 December 2004 improves the initial proposal of the Commission for this physical agent. However, we firmly believe that this directive may still raise major difficulties for a significant number of our members’ companies, especially SMEs in the mechanical and metalworking field. In the years to come, we may fail to meet the needs and challenges of future generations that could be provided by developing innovative solutions using optical radiation.

CEEMET and ORGALIME have some comments and are of the opinion that the formulation of some provisions could be improved, in order to make them clearer to users of the future Directive.

References: 92/0449/D (COD)