Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:310
Date: 2001-05-31
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Social policy — Protection of health and safety of workers — Directive 89/391 on the 
introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of 
workers at work — Evaluation of risks — Employers' obligations 
(Council Directive 83/391, Art. 6(3)(a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-49/00 
2. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Implementation by the Member States — 
Need for clear and precise transposition — Legal certainty guaranteed to individuals 
1. It follows both from the purpose of 
Directive 89/391 on the introduction of 
measures to encourage improvements 
in the safety and health of workers at 
work, which, according to its 15th 
recital, applies to all risks, and from 
the wording of Article 6(3)(a) thereof, 
that employers are obliged to evaluate 
all risks to the safety and health of 
workers. Also, the occupational risks 
which are to be evaluated by employers 
are not fixed once and for all, but are 
continually changing in relation, parti­
cularly, to the progressive development 
of working conditions and scientific 
research concerning such risks. 
(see paras. 12-13) 
2. Transposing a directive into national 
law does not necessarily require its 
provisions to be reproduced verbatim 
in a specific, express law or regulation; 
a general legal context may be suffi­
cient, provided that it does effectively 
ensure the full application of the direc­
tive in a sufficiently clear and precise 
manner. It is particularly important, in 
order to satisfy the requirement of legal 
certainty, that individuals should have 
the benefit of a clear and precise legal 
situation enabling them to ascertain the 
full extent of their rights and duties 
and, where appropriate, to rely on 
them before the national courts. 
(see paras. 21-22) 
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