Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:103
Date: 2000-02-24
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
Social policy — Protection of safety and health of workers — Directive 90/270 on work 
with display screen equipment — Scope — Meaning of 'display screen' — Screens that 
display film recordings in analogue or digital form — Included — Meaning of 'control 
cabs for vehicles or machinery' — Scope 
(Council Directive 90/270, Arts 1(3)(a) and 2(a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-11/99 
In view of the purpose of Directive 90/270 
of protecting the health and safety of 
workers by laying down minimum safety 
and health requirements for work with 
display screen equipment, compliance with 
the requirements set out in the directive and 
its annex is essential regardless of the type 
of image displayed on the screen. 
The term 'graphic display screen', for the 
purposes of Article 2(a) of the directive 
must therefore be understood in a broad 
sense and must be interpreted so as to 
include screens that display film recordings 
in analogue or digital form. 
On the other hand, the term 'control cabs 
for vehicles or machinery', in Arti­
cle 1(3)(a) of the directive, must be inter­
preted narrowly inasmuch as these are 
excluded from the directive's scope of 
application. That provision must therefore 
be interpreted as meaning that the term 
does not extend to a job in which analogue 
or digital images are processed with the aid 
of technical devices and/or computer pro­
grammes in order to produce television 
broadcasts. 
(see paras 37, 41, 43, 50, 54, 
operative part 1-2) 
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