Mr President, Commissioner – whom I welcome – ladies and gentlemen, in 1994 the European Parliament approved at first reading the Commission’s proposal on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents. The differing natures of the four physical agents – noise, vibration, optical radiation and electromagnetic fields – led to a new approach on the part of the Council in 1999, which advocated specific directives. Following the directives on vibration and noise, today we are examining the Directive on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to electromagnetic fields. The proposal for a directive falls under the heading of measures to improve the working environment because, according to Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights under the heading ‘Fair and just working conditions’, every worker has the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. To start with, we must make it clear that the new Directive is extremely careful about its potential socio-economic impact, since it does not impose new obligations which were not already contained in the framework directive; it simply sets out their specific details. The directive only deals with short- and medium-term adverse effects and not long-term adverse effects because of the lack of solid scientific data. It does not deal with risks involving contact with live conductors. Protection in this case is contained in the framework directive. The proposal’s scope does not provide for exceptions, because that would represent discrimination, within the meaning of Article 13 of the EC Treaty and Article 20 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Furthermore, this is a health and safety directive, which is intended to eliminate risks at origin, although a specific directive – 93/42/EEC, for example – obliges the manufacturer to comply with essential requirements. Use may be incorrect and therefore the sources of risk may be many and varied. In order to understand the preventive content, we must take account of two concepts. Firstly, the exposure limit value above which no one is permitted to work. Secondly, the action value which leads to an action in accordance with the terms laid down in the proposal. This Parliament’s contributions mainly focus on the obligations for employers in terms of evaluating and measuring the levels of the electromagnetic fields workers are exposed to, on the consultation and participation of those workers and on training and information. Another of Parliament’s contributions is to set out detailed requirements for containing and monitoring this power – Article 8 – with the aim of preventing and diagnosing as swiftly as possible any adverse effect on health due to exposure to electromagnetic fields. When exposure exceeding the limit values is detected, a medical examination is required and, in the event that any damage to health as a result of exposure is detected, the employer will be obliged to carry out a reassessment of the risks. Effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions are laid down, in accordance with national legislation – of course – in the event of infringement. If Parliament votes in favour of this report and the Council accepts Parliament’s amendments, the Directive will be the result of a form of social dialogue, of political dialogue, in this case, through the joint efforts of the Group and the Group who, in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, have understood that, by means of this Directive, we could improve working conditions for European workers. We accepted the initial proposal by Mr Crowley of the UEN Group. In my capacity as rapporteur, I would like to thank him and all my fellow Members for their contributions and, in particular, the coordinator for the Socialist Group in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Mr Stephen Hughes. Without this agreement, the Directive would not be possible. If we achieve the necessary votes tomorrow, we will have a Directive which is the result of dialogue between the majority political groups in this House aimed at improving the living conditions of workers and protecting their dignity as human beings.

Political group: PPE-DE