Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Preliminary rulings - Reference to the Court - National court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 177 of the Treaty - Definition - `Procura della Repubblica' acting as prosecutor in criminal proceedings - Excluded

(EC Treaty, Art. 177)

2 Acts of the institutions - Directives - Implementation by the Member States - Need to ensure effectiveness of directives - Obligations of national courts and tribunals - Limits - Principle of legality in relation to crime and punishment

(EC Treaty, Art. 189, third para.)

3 Social policy - Protection of safety and health of workers - Directive 90/270 on work with display screen equipment - Habitual use of such equipment by a worker as a significant part of his normal work - Definition not supplied by the directive - Discretion of the Member States

(Council Directive 90/270, Art. 2(c))

4 Social policy - Protection of safety and health of workers - Directive 90/270 on work with display screen equipment - Protection of workers' eyes and eyesight - Regular and ophthalmological examinations - Persons entitled

(Council Directive 90/270, Art. 9(1) and (2))

5 Social policy - Protection of safety and health of workers - Directive 90/270 on work with display screen equipment - Employers' obligations - Scope

(Council Directive 90/270, Arts 2(b) and (c), 4 and 5)

Summary

6 Reference may be made to the Court under Article 177 only by a body required to give a ruling in complete independence in proceedings which are intended to result in a judicial decision.

The `Procura della Repubblica' cannot be regarded as a court or tribunal within the meaning of that article where its role is not to rule on an issue in complete independence but, acting as prosecutor in the proceedings, to submit that issue, if appropriate, for consideration by the competent judicial body.

7 The obligation on a national court to interpret and apply the relevant rules of its national law as far as possible in the light of the wording and the purpose of the directive which they implement, so as to achieve the result it seeks to achieve and thereby comply with the third paragraph of Article 189 of the Treaty, is not unlimited, particularly where such interpretation would have the effect, on the basis of the directive and independently of legislation adopted for its implementation, of determining or aggravating the liability in criminal law of persons who act in contravention of its provisions.

Where it is necessary to determine the extent of liability in criminal law arising under legislation adopted for the specific purpose of implementing a directive, the principle that a provision of the criminal law may not be applied extensively to the detriment of the defendant, which is the corollary of the principle of legality in relation to crime and punishment and more generally of the principle of legal certainty, precludes bringing criminal proceedings in respect of conduct not clearly defined as culpable by law. That principle, which is one of the general legal principles underlying the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, has also been enshrined in various international treaties, in particular in Article 7 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The national court must therefore ensure that that principle is observed when interpreting, in the light of the wording and the purpose of the directive, the national legislation adopted in order to implement it.

8 The concept of habitual use of display screen equipment as a significant part of normal work, which is used in Directive 90/270 on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment in order to identify the workers who are to be entitled to the protective measures for which it provides, must, in the absence of any specification in the directive, be defined by the Member States, which enjoy a broad discretion for that purpose, when adopting the necessary national implementing measures.

9 Article 9(1) of Directive 90/270 on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment must be interpreted as meaning that the regular eye tests for which it provides are to be carried out on all workers to whom the directive applies and Article 9(2) is to be interpreted as meaning that workers are entitled to an ophthalmological examination in all cases where the eye and eyesight test carried out pursuant to Article 9(1) shows that this is necessary.

10 On a proper construction of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 90/270 on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment, the obligation on employers to take the appropriate steps to ensure that workstations meet the minimum requirements laid down in the annex applies to all workstations as defined in Article 2(b), even if they are not used by workers as defined in Article 2(c), and workstations must be adapted to comply with all the minimum requirements laid down in the annex.