Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE amending Annex XVIII (Health and safety at work, labour law, and equal treatment for men and women) to the EEA Agreement - Draft common position of the Community - (presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. In order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant Community legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption.

2. The EEA Joint Committee should therefore adopt the attached decision to amend Annex XVIII to the EEA Agreement by adding recently adopted acquis in the field of health and safety at work, labour law, and equal treatment for men and women. The decision concerns:

- 32000 L 0034: Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 (OJ L 195, 1.8.2000, p. 41).

3. The proposal includes the adaptation that the obligation to forward certain notifications, justifications and opinions to the European Parliament shall not apply to the EEA EFTA States.

4. Article 1(3)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement envisages that the Council establishes the Community position for decisions extending Community legislation with substantial changes.

5. The Council is requested to approve the attached draft decision for adoption by the EEA Joint Committee. The Commission would hope to be able to put forward the position of the Community in the EEA Joint Committee in April 2002.

Draft

DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE

amending Annex XVIII (Health and safety at work, labour law, and equal treatment for men and women) to the EEA Agreement

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as amended by the Protocol adjusting the Agreement on the European Economic Area, hereinafter referred to as 'the Agreement', and in particular Article 98 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Annex XVIII to the Agreement was amended by Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No .../... of ... [1].

[1] OJ L ...

(2) Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 amending Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time to cover sectors and activities excluded from that Directive [2] is to be incorporated into the Agreement,

[2] OJ L 195, 1.8.2000, p. 41.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The following shall be added in point 28 (Council Directive 93/104/EC) of Annex XVIII to the Agreement:

', as amended by:

- 32000 L 0034: Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 (OJ L 195, 1.8.2000, p. 41).

The provisions of the Directive shall, for the purposes of the present Agreement, be read with the following adaptation:

The obligation in Article 17(2) point 2.4(a)(i) to forward certain notifications, justifications and opinions to the European Parliament, shall not apply to the EFTA States or EFTA institutions.'.

Article 2

The texts of Directive 2000/34/EC in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to be published in the EEA Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Communities, shall be authentic.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on , provided that all the notifications under Article 103(1) of the Agreement have been made to the EEA Joint Committee [3].

[3] [No constitutional requirements indicated.] [Constitutional requirements indicated.]

Article 4

This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Brussels, .

For the EEA Joint Committee

The President

The Secretaries to the EEA Joint Committee