EN Official Journal of the European Union C 44/103

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work’

COM(2007) 46 final — 2007/0020 (COD)

(2008/C 44/22)

On 19 March 2007, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 2 October 2007. The rapporteur was Mr Retureau.

At its 439th plenary session, held on 24 and 25 October 2007 (meeting of 25 October 2007), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 77 votes to four, with two abstentions.

1. Summary of the opinion

1.1 The Committee supports the proposed Regulation and its legal basis; the proposal complies with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, whilst allowing for the collection of statistics that are useful to the implementation of the Community strategy on health and safety at work, for which a clear legal framework has become necessary.

1.2 It stresses the importance of common definitions and systems for recognition, not least because of the mobility of workers, as regards: — occupational accidents and commuting accidents; — occupational illnesses caused by working conditions and/or substances; — partial or permanent incapacity and invalidity caused by work-related accidents and illnesses, and the working days lost.

1.3 When collating statistics as to the number of people involved in each type of incident, the Committee believes that it would be helpful to take account of the gender and age of the victims and, as far as possible, the nature of their contractual relationship. Particular attention should be paid to the confidentiality of personal data collected.

1.4 The Committee believes that cooperation with the ILO and the WHO should be developed. In the Committee's view, the proposed regulation constitutes one of the most useful means of bringing about convergence of the nature of the definitions and data to be recorded, and the methods of collecting and analysing these data.

2. Commission proposal

2.1 This Regulation is only focused on statistical activities developed under article 285 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. Its aim is not on policy developments for the two areas of public health and health and safety at work, which are carried out respectively under articles 152 and 137 of the Treaty.

2.2 The production of Community statistics is governed by the rules set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

2.3 Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (2) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 (3) making it applicable to the Community institutions and bodies allow the processing of personal data on health for reasons of substantial public interest subject to provision of appropriate safeguards.

2.4 The Community and national political actions and strategies in the areas of public health and health and safety at work constitute a substantial public interest and the provisions of the Council Regulations (EC) No 322/97 and (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality (4) to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) provide the appropriate safeguards for the protection of individuals in the case of the production of Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work.

2.5 Actually, Decision No 1786/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 adopting a programme of Community action in the field of public health 2003-2008 (5), the Council Resolution of 3 June 2002 on a new Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006 (6) and the Commission Communication of 20 April 2004 on ‘modernising social protection for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and long-term care: support for the national strategies using the “open method of coordination”’ (7), require a high standard statistical information system for assessing achievements of policies and developing and monitoring further actions in both areas. This will be continued and developed under successor programmes and strategies.

2.6 In its non-legislative communication SEC(2007) 214, 215, 216 (8) Improving quality and productivity at work: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work, the Commission stresses that health and safety at work deserve to be a top priority on the Community political agenda; the health and safety of workers is key to increasing productivity and competitiveness of businesses, and helps make social security systems viable by reducing the costs arising out of accidents and illnesses. The idea is to make well-being at work a tangible reality for citizens, thus helping to implement the citizens' agenda adopted on 10 May 2006.

2.7 Until now, statistical data collections were carried out on the basis of ‘gentlemen agreements’ with the Member States in the framework of the five years Community Statistical Programmes (currently Decision 2367/2002/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007 (9)) and its annual components.

2.8 In particular in the area of public health statistics, the developments and implementations in the three strands (causes of deaths, health care and health interview surveys, disability and morbidity) are steered and organised according to a partnership structure between Eurostat, together with leading countries (currently United Kingdom as general coordinator and respective domain leaders from Estonia, Luxembourg and Denmark), and Member States. In this framework, a lot of methodological work, including preparation of guidelines, has been already achieved and the implementation of data collections has started.

2.9 However, the current situation is characterised by the following limitations. First, for data collection already implemented, though a certain increase in data quality and comparability has been achieved, Member States should be given a firm basis for implementation.

2.10 A legal framework would allow a consolidation of the progress towards better quality and comparability standards for all related routine data collections. It will ensure a better sustainability and stability of the European requirements for the medium term and would give clear targets in terms of standards to be achieved for comparability at EU level.

2.11 Moreover, a high majority of the new Member States stated that they would not be able to comply with the EU requirements in the areas of public health and health and safety at work without a European legal framework.

2.12 Finally, all Member States need a clearer view on the time schedule and milestones for the implementation of the new statistical tools, currently being developed, and of the actions being prepared for quality improvement. The proposed regulation will be an appropriate framework for drawing up detailed roadmaps in the various areas and strands of health and safety statistics.

2.13 This is why the Commission (Eurostat) considers it is necessary now to give a firm basis through providing a basic legal act in the areas of public health and health and safety at work statistics. The domains covered by the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation relate to ongoing activities and developments carried out together with the Member States in the relevant groups of Eurostat or, in the area of public health, of the Partnership on public health statistics. The main goal is to give a consolidated and firm basis for collections already implemented or which methodology is currently being developed or implementation prepared.

2.14 The Programme of Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008) (10), stated that the statistical element of the information system on public health will be developed, in collaboration with Member States, using as necessary the Community statistical programme to promote synergy and avoid duplication.

2.15 The amended proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a second programme of Community action in the field of health 2007-2013 (11) stated that the existing work to develop an EU health monitoring system shall be expanded, using the Community Statistical Programme as necessary. For its part, the Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006 (12) called on the Commission and the Member States to step up work in hand on harmonisation of statistics on accidents at work and occupational illnesses, so as to have available comparable data from which to make an objective assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the measures taken under the Community strategy.

3. The Committee's comments

3.1 The Committee supports the proposed Regulation and its legal basis; the proposal complies with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, whilst allowing for the collection of statistics that are useful to the implementation of the Community strategy on health and safety at work, for which a clear legal framework has become necessary.

3.2 It stresses the importance of common definitions and systems for recognition, not least because of the mobility of workers, as regards: — occupational accidents (that take place at work) and commuting accidents (that take place on the way between the place of residence and the place of work, and during long breaks away from the place of work, such as lunch breaks), and where work involves travel (services); — occupational illnesses caused by working conditions and/or substances encountered in the workplace (dust, chemicals, vibrations, noise hazards, muscular, skeletal and periarticular complaints caused by heavy loads or repetitive strain, etc.); — partial or permanent incapacity and invalidity caused by work-related accidents and illnesses, and the working days lost.

3.3 When collating statistics as to the number of people involved in each type of incident, the Committee believes that it would be helpful to take account of the gender and age of the victims, the sector of the economy involved, and, as far as possible, the nature of their contractual relationship with their workplace (permanent employment contract, atypical job, temporary agency work, self-employed). Particular attention should be paid to the confidentiality of personal data collected, in accordance with the relevant legislation.

3.4 The Committee believes that cooperation with the ILO and the WHO should be developed, as they can lead to worthwhile exchanges, both at a theoretical level (research into the causes of illnesses and accidents, ergonomics, and rehabilitation) and at methodological level concerning statistical methods and the collation of statistics.

3.5 In the Committee's view, the proposed regulation constitutes one of the most useful means of progressively bringing about convergence of the nature and the definitions of data to be recorded, and the methods of collecting and analysing these data so as to constantly improve their quality, their compatibility, and their comparability.

Brussels, 25 October 2007. The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(1) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 61. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31997R0322:EN:HTML Regulation amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:284:0001:0053:EN:PDF).

(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31995L0046:EN:HTML. Directive amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:008:0001:0022:EN:PDF.

(4) OJ L 151, 15.6.1990, p. 1. Regulation most recently amended by Regulation (EC) 322/97:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31990R1588:EN:HTML.

(5) OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 1.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:271:0001:0011:EN:PDF

(6) OJ L 161, 5.7.2002, p. 1.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:161:0001:0004:EN:PDF

(7) COM(2004) 304 final, 20.4.2004.

(8) SEC(2007) 214, 21.2.2007.

(9) OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 1. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:358:0001:0027:EN:PDF Decision amended by decision No 787/2004/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (OJ L 138, 30.4.2004, p. 12, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2004/l_138/l_13820040430en00120016.pdf).

(10) See note 5.

(11) COM(2006) 234 final, 24.5.2006.

(12) See note 6.