HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTION: EXPLOSIVE
ATMOSPHERES
(20626)
PE-CONS
3623/99
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Consolidated text resulting from conciliation between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on a draft Directive on minimum requirements for improving the safety and health of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres.
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| Legal base: |
Article 137; co-decision; qualified majority voting
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| Document originated:
| 21 October 1999 |
| Deposited in Parliament:
| 16 November 1999 |
| Department: |
Environment, Transport and the Regions
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| Basis of consideration:
| EM of 24 November 1999
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| Previous Committee Report:
| None; but see (20112) 9808/99: HC 34-xx (1998-99), paragraph 9 (19 May 1999), and
HC 34-xxvi (1998-99), paragraph 6 (14 July 1999)
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| To be discussed in Council:
| None planned |
| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision:
| Cleared |
Background
9.1 In 1995, the Commission brought forward
a proposal[37]
for a Directive establishing minimum requirements for the health
protection and safety of workers potentially at risk from explosive
atmospheres. Although there were concerns that this would create
significant new burdens for industry without corresponding benefits
in terms of increased safety, we cleared it on 16 December 1998,
and the Council agreed the following week a Common Position on
a text acceptable to the UK. However, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions (Mr Meale) subsequently told us that the European Parliament
had adopted a number of amendments, some of which would have been
potentially very expensive, particularly those that would have
required certain safety conditions applying to new equipment to
be applied retrospectively to existing equipment, at a cost put
at "potentially up to several billion pounds". Despite
this, we maintained our earlier clearance at our meeting on 19
May, as we did on 14 July, when the Minister told us that it seemed
likely that, although other Member States would not support the
deletion of the European Parliament's amendment applying safety
requirements to existing equipment, they would be prepared to
accept a compromise linking these to risk assessment. We did,
however, ask to be kept informed of developments.
The current position
9.2 Following our July meeting, we received
a letter dated 8 September from the present Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions (Lord Whitty), which said that co-decision seemed unlikely
to produce a clearcut outcome, and that he therefore expected
the conciliation process to be followed. He confirmed that the
Council's negotiating aim would be to resist those of the Parliament's
amendments which would impose unacceptable burdens on business.
9.3 We have now received an Explanatory
Memorandum dated 24 November from the Minister, letting us know
that a text was approved by the Conciliation Committee on 21 October,
in which the various provisions which had previously caused concern
will now be based on risk, not hazard. He adds that this will
eliminate unnecessary costs from the Directive, and reduce these
to levels more commensurate with the benefits. Thus, the Regulatory
Impact Assessment attached to his Explanatory Memorandum suggests
that the cost of implementation would now be between £87.4
million and £131.4 million over 25 years, as against a benefit
over the same period from eliminating accidents entirely of £95.4
million. In addition, there could be additional one-off costs
of £5 million, falling mainly on small enterprises.
Conclusion
9.4 We are grateful to the Minister for
this further information, which confirms that the UK's negotiating
objectives appear to have been achieved. In view of this,
the information contained in the documents attached to the Explanatory
Memorandum, and the agreement reached between the Council and
European Parliament, we are content to uphold our earlier clearance
of this proposal.
37 See (16643) 9932/95; HC 51-vii (1995-96), paragraph
2 (24 January 1996); and (18049) 7388/97; HC 155-ii (1997-98),
paragraph 18 (22 July 1997), HC 155-xi (1997-98), paragraph 8
(17 December 1997), HC 34-ii (1998-99), paragraph 3 (2 December
1998), and HC 34-iv (1998-99), paragraph 7 (16 December 1998). Back
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