CELEX: 51991PC0543
Language: en
Date: 1992-02-17
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the protection of young people at work

4 . 4 . 92                                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 84 / 7
                                                                        II
                                                                (Preparatory Acts)
                                                           COMMISSION
                              Proposal for a Council Directive on the protection of young people at work
                                                                  (92 /C 84 /06)
                                                         COM(91) 543 final — SYN 383
                                                (Submitted by the Commission on 18 March 1992)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                                   Whereas the special situation of young people at work
                                                                             and the special nature of the risks to which they are
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                        subject, in particular in view of their lack of experience,
Economic Community, and in particular Article 1 1 8 A                        make it necessary to have specific additional provisions
thereof,                                                                     geared to the needs of young people at work ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                            Whereas a fair balance has to be struck between the defi­
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                                 nition of a basis of minimum provisions for ensuring the
                                                                             protection of young people at work, in order to avoid
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                             abuse, and the necessary flexibility of working and
Social Committee ,                                                          employment conditions ;
Whereas Article 118 A of the Treaty provides that the
Council shall adopt, by means of directives, minimum
requirements for encouraging improvements, especially                       Whereas point 20 in particular of the Community
in the working environment, to ensure a better level of                     Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers ,
protection of the safety and health of workers ;                            adopted by the Heads of State or Government of 11 of
                                                                            the Member States of the European Community at the
                                                                            European Council in Strasbourg on 9 December 1989,
Whereas, under the terms of that Article, those directives                  states that, subject to derogations limited to certain light
are to avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal                   work, the minimum employment age must not be lower
constraints in a way which would hold back the creation                     than the minimum school-leaving age and , in any case,
and development of small and medium-sized under­                            not lower than 15 years ;
takings ;
Whereas the directives on health and safety at work, and
particularly Council Directive 89/391 /EEC ('), contain                     Whereas under point 22 of the said Charter, appropriate
provisions designed to improve the health and safety of                     measures must be taken to adjust labour regulations
workers in general ; whereas, in particular, Council                        applicable to young workers so as to meet their specific
Directive      80 / 1107 / EEC          of    27   November      1980       development and vocational training and access to
concerning the protection of workers against risks as­                      employment needs ; whereas the duration of work of
sociated with exposure at work to chemical, physical and                    workers under the age of 18 years must be limited —
biological agents (2), as last amended by Directive                         without it being possible to circumvent this limitation
88 /642 / EEC (3), and Commission Directive 91 /322/                        through recourse to overtime — and night-work
EEC (4) envisage the establishment of limit values on                       prohibited, save in the case of certain jobs laid down in
exposure at work ;                                                          national legislation or regulations ;
(')  OJ  No  L  183 , 29 . 6 . 1989, p. 1 .
(2)  OJ   No L 327 ,  3 . 12 . 1980 , p. 8 .                                Whereas point 23 of the said Charter stresses that vo­
(3 ) OJ   No L 356 ,  24 . 12 . 1988 , p . 74 .                             cational training for young workers should take place
(')  OJ  No  L  177,  5 . 7 . 1991 , p . 22 .                               during working hours ;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 84 / 8                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                     4 . 4 . 92
Whereas , in its resolution on child work ('), the                  Whereas the system of protection envisaged by this
European Parliament summarized the various aspects of                Directive requires, for its effective application, the impo­
work by young people and stressed its effects on their              sition by the Member States of sanctions ,
health, safety and physical and intellectual development,
and pointed to the need to adopt a Community directive              HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
harmonizing national legislation in the field ;
                                                                                                Article 1
Whereas , to ensure that young people are not allowed to
work before reaching an appropriate age, it is necessary                                          Scope
for Member States to ban work below a minimum age ;
whereas any derogation from this ban must be restricted             This Directive shall apply to all persons under 18 years
to certain specific light work where there is no risk of            of age working for one or more employers, except those
harming the health and safety of children ;                         working on a limited or occasional basis for their family.
                                                                                                Article 2
Whereas, in order to protect the health and safety of
young people , Member States should take the necessary                                         Definitions
measures to ensure that a prior evaluation of risks
affecting young people in particular is carried out and             For the purposes of this Directive :
the results of this evaluation are communicated to those
concerned ;                                                         (a) 'employer' means any natural or legal person who
                                                                         has an employment relationship with the young
                                                                         worker ;
Whereas exposure on the part of young people to certain
physical, chemical or biological agents and to certain              (b) 'young person' means all persons under 18 years of
processes , and assignment to such work, affects the                     age :
health and safety of young people ; whereas it is
therefore appropriate to place a ban on such work ;                      — 'adolescent' means any young person of at least
                                                                              15 years of age but less than 18 years of age,
                                                                         — 'child' means any young person of less than 15
Whereas certain types of activity and certain working                         years of age ;
conditions may affect the health of young people ;
whereas steps should therefore be taken to arrange their            (c) 'working time' means any period during which the
working conditions and working time accordingly ;                        young person is at work and carrying out his acti­
                                                                         vities or duties in accordance with national legis­
                                                                         lation and/or practice. Where a young person is
Whereas working time must be adapted to the specific                     employed by more than one employer, working
requirements of the physical development of the young                    hours and working days shall be accumulated ;
people addressed by this Directive ; whereas , again with a
view to protecting the health and safety of young people,           (d) 'light work' means all work which does not cause
there should be a minimum set of provisions on                           any abnormal fatigue whether as a consequence of
night-work for voung people ;                                            the inherent nature of the tasks to be performed or
                                                                         as a consequence of the particular conditions under
                                                                         which they must be performed .
Whereas, although derogations from the bans and limi­
tations imposed by this Directive would appear indis­                                           Article J
pensible for certain activities or particular situations ,
application thereof must not prejudice the principles                                   Restrictions due to age
underlying the established protection system ;
                                                                    1 . Member States shall ensure that the employer shall
                                                                    provide young persons with working conditions which
Whereas , it is important to ensure that young workers              are appropriate to their age and which will, in particular,
are properly protected against accidents at work and                avoid damage to their physical and psychological devel­
occupational diseases ; whereas such protection must                opment .
include, in accordance with the provisions in force in the
Member States , cover in respect of these risks ;
                                                                    2 . Member States shall adopt the necessary measures
                                                                    to prohibit child work. Such provisions shall not be an
                                                                    obstacle to :
(') OJ No C 190 , 20 . 7 . 1987 , p. 44 .                           (a) children pursuing the activities set out in Article 4 ;
 ---pagebreak--- 4 . 4 . 92                              Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 84 / 9
(b) children working in an undertaking under a                    time to prevent such exposure on the part of young
       combined work/training scheme such as an appren­           people.
       ticeship or work experience placements ;
                                                                  2 . Where it is technically or objectively impossible to
(c) children of not less than 13 years of age performing           modify working conditions and / or working time , the
       light work.                                                employer shall take the necessary measures to provide
                                                                  the young person with a change of job .
3.       Derogations from point (c) of paragraph 2 may be
granted for limited periods, taking account of established        Exceptions may be allowed for certain specified
national practice and traditions, provided such dero­             categories of work which are essential to the vocational
gations do not compromise the objectives of this                  training of adolescents .
Directive .
                                                                   3 . Prior to exposure and at regular intervals
                            Article 4                             thereafter, appropriate medical surveillance shall be
                                                                  provided for young workers in respect of whom the
                  Cultural and similar activities                 results of the evaluation referred to in Article 5 indicate
                                                                  the existence of a specific risk to their safety or physical
The employment of children in cultural , artistic, sports         or mental health , notably a possible effect on their devel­
and advertising activities shall be subject to prior authoriz­    opment .
ation , the conditions of which shall be determined by the
competent authorities of the Member States .
                                                                                            Article 7
                            Article 5                                                    Exposure ban
                   Evaluation — information                       Without prejudice to the provisions of Directives
                                                                   80 / 1107/EEC and 91 / 322 /EEC , young persons may in
 1 . The provisions of Directive 89/ 391 /EEC shall                no case be required to perform activities where the
apply to all young persons addressed by this Directive.           evaluation has revealed a risk of exposure to agents and
                                                                  procedures envisaged by Annex II which would put the
                                                                  young person's safety or physical or mental health in
In applying these provisions the employer shall take              jeopardy .
account of any specific risk to the physical and mental
health and safety of the young persons as well as the
possible repercussions for their development.
                                                                                            Article 8
2 . Without prejudice to the provisions of Directive                                   Duration of work
89/ 391 / EEC , and in particular Articles 6 , 7, 10 and 12
thereof, young persons shall be evaluated in relation to           1.    The duration of work performed by children and
                                                                   adolescents who are in full-time education shall be
the nature, degree and duration of exposure within an
undertaking of all activity liable to present a specific risk      restricted to 15 hours per week and to three hours on a
of exposure to agents and procedures of which a                    school day for light work.
non-exhaustive list is set out in Annex I.
                                                                   Such work may be performed only outside the hours
The young persons shall be informed of the results of              fixed for school attendance and only provided that it is
this evaluation and of all measures taken concerning               not such as to prejudice their attendance at school or
their health and safety at work.                                   their capacity to benefit from the instruction given at
                                                                   school .
                            Article 6
                                                                   2 . Working time for young persons who are not
Consequences of the results of evaluation and health               undergoing full-time compulsory education or young
                           surveillance                            persons working during their school holidays may not
                                                                   exceed eight hours per day or 40 hours per week.
 1.      Where the results of the evaluation referred to in
Article 5 indicate a risk to the safety or to the physical or
mental health of the young person, notably an effect on            3 . The time spent attending school for training as part
his development, the employer shall take the necessary             of a combined work/training scheme shall be counted as
measures in terms of working conditions and / or working          working time .
 ---pagebreak--- No C 84 / 10                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  4 . 4 . 92
4.     Where there are objective reasons for so doing,                                    Article 13
derogations from the provisions of paragraph 2 may be
allowed subject to the agreement of the authority                   Protection from occupational accidents and diseases
competent to determine the terms of the derogations and
provided such derogations do not call into question the         Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to
objectives of this Directive.                                   ensure that young persons are adequately protected in
                                                                respect of occupational accident and disease. Young
                                                                persons must be insured against such risks in accordance
                          Article 9                             with the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
                                                                in force in the Member States .
                        Night work
1 . Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 4,                                     Article 14
young persons may not be employed between 20.00                                           Sanctions
hours and 06.00 hours .
                                                                 Each Member State shall determine the penalties to be
2. Exceptions to the ban on night-work set out in                imposed in the event of failure to comply with the
paragraph 1 may be authorized by legislative or regu­            measures adopted to give effect to this Directive ; such
latory process in specified sectors provided that no work        penalities must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive .
is performed between midnight and 04.00 hours.
                                                                                          Article 15
3 . Prior to any assignment to night-work, and at
regular intervals thereafter, young persons must be given                        Amendments to the Annexes
an assessment, free of charge, of their health and capa­
bilities .                                                       Adjustments to Annexes I and II as a result of technical
                                                                 progress, changes in international regulations or specifi­
                         Article 10                              cations and new findings in the area covered by this
                                                                 Directive shall be adopted in accordance with the
                         Rest time                               procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive
                                                                 89/ 391 / EEC .
Young persons duly released from full-time compulsory
education or young persons working during their school                                    Article 16
holidays shall have two consecutive rest days per week
and a rest period of 12 consecutive hours during each            This Directive may not have the effect of reducing the
24-hour period .                                                 level of protection afforded to young persons at work as
                                                                 compared with the situation which exists in each
If justified on technical or organizational grounds, the         Member State on the date on which this Directive is
weekly rest period may be reduced but may on no                  adopted .
condition be reduced below 36 hours .
                                                                                          Article 17
                         Article 11
                                                                                       Final provisions
                         Paid leave
                                                                 Member States shall bring into force the laws , regu­
Young persons duly released from full-time compulsory            lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
education shall receive annual leave of at least four            with this Directive by 31 December 1993 at the latest.
weeks, paid in accordance with the conditions governing          They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.
the receipt and granting of leave laid down in national
legislation and/or practice.                                     When Member States adopt these provisions , these shall
                                                                 contain a reference to this Directive or shall be ac­
                                                                 companied by such reference at the time of their official
                         Article 12
                                                                 publication. The procedure for such reference shall be
                                                                  adopted by Member States.
                        Rest period
Any working period of four and a half consecutive hours                                   Article 18
 shall be followed by a rest period of not less than 30
 minutes .                                                       This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
 ---pagebreak--- 4 . 4 . 92                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 84 / 11
                                                             ANNEX I
           NON-EXHAUSTIVE              LIST  OF    AGENTS, PROCESSES              AND     WORKING        CONDITIONS
                                                          (ARTICLE 5)
           1 . Agents
               Physical agents
               Direct or indirect manual handling of loads involving a risk, particularly of back injury
               Work in a high-pressure atmosphere (for example, pressurized containers, diving)
               Extremes of heat and cold .
               Biological agents
               Biological agents belonging to groups III and IV within the meaning of Article 2 (d) of Directive
               90 /679/EEC on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work.
               Chemical agents
               Hydrofluoric acid
               Fuming nitric acid
               Arsenic and compounds thereof
               Thiophosphoric esters
               Mercury and compounds thereof
               Methyl bromide
               Free silica
               Carbon monoxide
               Chlorine
               Asbestos .
           2 . Work
               Work involving the use of work equipment with a specific risk within the meaning of Article 5 of
               Directive 89 / 655 /EEC
               Manufacture and handling of machinery, fireworks or other objects containing explosives
               Work with fierce or poisonous animals
               Work involving dangerous feats of strength or contortionist exercises
               Metal casting
               Glass-blowing
               Animal slaughtering
               Work involving the handling of equipment for the production, storage or application of compressed,
               liquified or dissolved gases
               Work with vats, tanks, reservoirs or carboys containing toxic, harmful or corrosive flammable liquids,
               gases or vapours covered by Directive 67/ 548 /EEC
               Underground work
               Work at a height
               Demolition work
 ---pagebreak--- No C 84 / 12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 4 . 4 . 92
                 Work involving a risk of electrocution .
                 Work involving :
                 — the driving of agricultural or forestry tractors not equipped with roll-over protection structures,
                 — the driving of combine- harvesters and other multiple-function or multiple-movement agricultural
                     machinery,
                 — the driving of earthmoving equipment and vehicles,
                 — constraints due to the pace of work, particularly in respect of work involving payment by results.
                                                                 ANNEX II
             NON-EXHAUSTIVE             LIST     OF    AGENTS,      PROCESSES       AND     WORKING        CONDITIONS
                                                               (ARTICLE 7)
             1 . Agents
                 Physical agents
                 Ionizing radiation.
                 Chemical agents
                 Hydrocyanic aid
                 Lead and compounds thereof
                 Neurotoxic chemical agents
                 Substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or toxic for reproduction
                 Substances classified as liable to cause serious damages to health by prolonged exposure (R 48)
                 Chemical agents in Annex I to Directive 90 / 394/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks
                 related to exposure to carcinogens at work.
             2 . Processes
                 Industrial processes in Annex I to Directive 90 / 394/EEC.