CELEX: 51984PC0456
Language: en
Date: 1984-09-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE PROTECTION OF WORKERS BY THE PROSCRIPTION OF SPECIFIED AGENTS AND/OR WORK ACTIVITIES ( FOURTH INDIVIDUAL DIRECTIVE WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 8 OF DIRECTIVE 80/1107/EEC )

10.10.84                               Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 270/3
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Directive on the protection of workers by the proscription of
                                           specified agents and/or work activities
              (Fourth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 8 of Directive 80/1107/EEC)
                                                     COM(84) 456 final
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 13 September 1984)
                                                       (84/C 270/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                       Whereas, under the terms of the said Directive, such
COMMUNITIES,                                                      protection should as far as possible be ensured by
                                                                  measures to prevent exposure or to keep it at as low a
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                      level as is reasonably practicable; whereas, also under
European Economic Community, and in particular                    these terms, for the provision of adequate protection
Article 100 thereof,                                              of workers it is necessary to proscribe in the
                                                                  workplace specified agents and/or work activities
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                which can give rise to serious effects on health in
                                                                  cases where use of other means does not make it
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                 possible to ensure adequate protection;
liament,
                                                                  Whereas provision should be made in these circum-
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                  stances to proscribe certain specified agents and/or
Social Committee,                                                 work activities;
Whereas the Council resolution of 27 February 1984                Whereas representatives of employers and workers
on a second programme of action of the European                   have a role to play in the protection of workers,
Communities on safety and health at work (')
provides for the development of protective measures               HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
for substances recognized as being carcinogenic and
other dangerous substances and processes which may                                        Article 1
have serious harmful effects on health;
                                                                  The purpose of this Directive is the protection of
Whereas certain differences are revealed by an exami-             workers against the risks to their health by the pros-
nation of the measures taken by Member States to                  cription of specified agents and/or work activities
protect workers against the risks related to exposure             where serious health effects have been demonstrated
to specified work agents and work activities; whereas,            and where the present technical and organizational
therefore, in the interest of balanced development,               precautions have not reduced or where future
these measures, which directly affect the functioning             precautions are unlikely to reduce the risks from
of the common market, should be approximated and                   exposure to an acceptable level.
improved;      whereas       this    approximation      and
improvement should be based on common principles;                                         Article 2
Whereas to this end Council Directive 80/1107/EEC                  For the purposes of this Directive:
of 27 November 1980 on the protection of workers
against the risks related to exposure to chemical,                 (a) 'substances' means chemical elements and their
physical and biological agents at work (2) contains                    compounds as they occur in the natural state or
                                                                       as produced by industry, including any additives
such principles;
                                                                       required for the purpose of placing them on the
                                                                       market;
 (*) OJ No C 67, 8. 3. 1984, p. 2.                                 (b) 'preparations' means intentional mixtures or
 (*) OJ No L 327, 3. 12. 1980, p. 8.                                   solutions composed of two or more substances;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 270/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                             10.10. 84
(c) 'impurities' means substances which are present in          — the products manufactured.
     small amounts in other substances;
                                                                3.    Member States shall permit an exemption only
(d) 'intermediates' means substances which are formed
                                                                where, having regard to the circumstances of the
     during a chemical reaction, and which should
                                                                case, they are satisfied that the employer has taken
     disappear by the end of the reaction;
                                                                adequate precautions to protect the health and safety
(e) 'by-products' means substances which are formed             of the workers affected or likely to be affected as a
     during a chemical reaction and which remain at             consequence of this exemption.
     the end of the reaction;
                                                                4.    Where Member States grant an exemption, they
(f)   'waste products' means the remains of a chemical          shall lay down the measures to be followed by the
     reaction which need to be disposed of at the end           employer, in application of Article 4 (1) to (3), (5) to
     of the reaction.                                           (13) and Article 5 of Directive 80/1107/EEC.
                         Article 3                                                      Article 5
T o prevent the exposure of workers to risks to their           1.    Workers and/or their representatives in under-
health from certain specified agents and/or work                takings or establishments shall have access to the
activities where the serious health effects have been           documents which are the subject of notification
demonstrated, Member States shall take all necessary            concerning their own undertaking or establishment in
measures to proscribe:                                          accordance with national laws.
(a) the agents listed in the Annex to this Directive;
                                                                2.    Appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure
     and/or
                                                                that workers and their representatives in the under-
(b) any work activity or any additional agent listed in         taking or establishment receive adequate information
     an amendment to the Annex which the Council                concerning the health and safety risks pertaining to
     adopts acting on a proposal from                 the       the agent or the work activity to which they are
     Commission.                                                exposed or likely to be exposed, together with the
                                                                measures to be taken against these risks.
                         Article 4
                                                                                        Article 6
1.     In accordance with the Annex, Member States
may grant exemptions from the proscriptions listed on           1.    Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations
receipt of a reasoned application made by an                    and administrative provisions necessary to comply
employer.                                                       with this Directive before 1 January 1987. They shall
                                                                forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
2.     The reasoned application must be submitted by
the employer to the responsible authority of the                2.    Member States shall communicate to the
Member State in accordance with national laws, regu-            Commission the provisions of national law which they
lations and administrative provisions. This notification        adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
must include at least a brief description of:
— the quantities used,                                                                  Article 7
— the activities and/or processes involved,                     This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- 10.10.84                           Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s          N o C 270/5
                                                             ANNEX
                         Proscriptions and specific exemptions in application of Articles 3 and 4
         The following are not permitted alone or as an intentional constituent of a preparation:
                                       2-naphthylamine and its salts,
                                       4-aminodiphenyl and its salts,
                                       4-nitrodiphenyl.
         This proscription does not apply if the agents are present in a substance or a preparation in the form
         of impurities, by-products or as a constituent of waste products, if their individual concentration is
         less than 0,1 % w / w in the substance.
         Member States may grant exemptions for:
         — production and use for the sole purpose of research and testing, including analysis,
         — work activities in which the agents are formed as intermediates in a closed system in higher
             concentrations than 0,1 % w / w but which fall to a concentration of less than 0,1 % w / w by the
             end of the reaction,
         — work activities intended to eliminate the agents that are in the form of waste products.