11 European Agency for Safety and Health
at Work
| (25613)
9050/04
COM(04) 50
| Commission Communication on the evaluation of the European Agency on Safety and Health at Work accompanied by a draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 2062/94 establishing a European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
|
| Legal base | Article 308 EC; consultation; unanimity
|
| Document originated | 23 April 2004
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 7 May 2004
|
| Department | Work and Pensions
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 26 May 2004
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | 1/2 June 2004
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| Committee's assessment | Legally important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
11.1 The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (the Agency)
was set up by Regulation (EC) No. 2062/94[27]
and began work in 1996. The Agency provides technical, scientific
and economic information about health and safety at work. The
information is provided to Member States, the Commission, bodies
representing employers and employees and businesses. The Agency
organises the annual European Health and Safety Week and a special
scheme to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
It is based in Bilbao.
11.2 The Agency has an Administrative Board comprised
of three representatives from each Member State (one representing
the Government, one employers' organisations and one employees'
organisations) and three representatives of the Commission. With
the accession of the new Member States on 1 May, the Board will
have 78 members.
11.3 Article 137 (1) of the EC Treaty provides for
the Community to support and complement Member States' activities
in, among other things, improvement of the working environment
to protect workers' health and safety. Article 137(2) empowers
the Council to adopt measures to encourage cooperation between
Member States through initiatives to improve knowledge, developing
exchanges of information and best practices, promoting innovative
approaches and evaluating experiences.
11.4 Article 308 of the Treaty empowers the Council
to adopt measures for which there is no other legal base and which
are necessary to attain, in the operation of the common market,
one of the objectives of the Community.
11.5 Article 308 was cited as the legal basis for
the Regulation which created the Agency in 1994. At that time,
the Treaty did not contain what is now in Article 137.
The document
11.6 The document includes a Communication from the
Commission and the draft of a Regulation.
11.7 The Communication summarises and comments on
the findings of an external evaluation of the Agency in 2001,
the views on the Agency which the Commission has received from
representatives of Governments, employers and employees and the
opinion of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health
Protection at Work. Some of the findings and comments related
to the need for the Agency to improve its internal and external
communications but others called for legislative amendments to
improve the management of the Agency and clarify its role. The
Commission has taken account of these points in preparing the
proposal for the amending Regulation.
11.8 The proposed amendments fall into four main
categories:
- minor clarifications of the
Agency's objectives and tasks (for example, the addition of an
express requirement for the Agency to analyse as well as collect
and disseminate information and to pay particular attention to
the problems of SMEs);
- reform of the constitution of the Agency's Board
and Bureau;
- reinforcement of the role of employers' and employees'
representatives in the Agency's network with Member States (the
addition of a specific requirement for competent national authorities
to take account of the views of social partners); and
- reinforcement of cooperation with other Community
bodies and, in particular, the European Foundation for the Improvement
of Living and Working Conditions (the Dublin Foundation).
11.9 Most of the proposed amendments affect the management
of the Agency. Notably, a new Governing Board would replace the
Administrative Board and concentrate on the strategic management
of the Agency. The Board's membership would, however, continue
to comprise three representatives of each Member State and of
the Commission. The Agency's Bureau would be given a legal personality
and have only eight members. The Board would be able to delegate
to the Bureau the exercise of all its functions except those expressly
reserved to the Board, such as approval of the work programme
and budget.
The Government's view
11.10 The Minister of State for Work at the Department
of Work and Pensions (Jane Kennedy) tells us that the Government
generally welcomes the proposed amendments, which have no major
policy implications.
11.11 Commenting on the legal base for the draft
Regulation, the Minister says that the Government believes that
Article 137(2) of the Treaty offers a more satisfactory legal
base than Article 308. It will try to persuade the Commission
and other Member States that the former should be used. She adds:
"If these attempts prove unsuccessful, we would
seek to have a Declaration inserted in the footnote to the amending
regulation that we would not regard continuing use of Article
308 as setting a precedent for its use either generally, or in
relation to future proposals in respect of the Agency."
Conclusion
11.12 In our view, the proposed amendments are
reasonable.
11.13 But we share the Minister's concern about
the proposal to cite Article 308 EC as the legal base for the
draft Regulation. This is a matter of legal principle and we
are all the more concerned about it because this is not an isolated
case. Despite the Government's and our clear view to the contrary,
Article 308 EC has been used as the legal base for reforms to
the management of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational
Training.[28]
Moreover, although it appears to us that an alternative legal
base exists, Article 308 EC has been proposed as the legal base
for a proposed Regulation to reform the management of the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.[29]
11.14 A Declaration of the kind to which the Minister
refers would not cure the defect in the legal basis of the proposal
and we cannot see the case for accepting such a compromise on
an issue of legal principle. We shall, therefore, hold the document
under scrutiny pending the outcome of the Government's discussion
with the Commission and other Member States about the legal base.
27 OJ No. L 216, 20.8.94, p.1. Back
28
(25350) 6030/04: see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 2 (10 March 2004);
HC 42-xvii (2003-04), para 2 (21 April 2004); and HC 42-xx (2003-04),
para 13 (18 May 2004). Back
29
See para 10 of this Report. Back
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