Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 137(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee^f1,

Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty^f2,

Whereas:

Council Directive 89/655/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)^f3 has been substantially amended several times^f4. In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

This Directive is an individual directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work^f5. Therefore, the provisions of Directive 89/391/EEC are fully applicable to the scope of the use of work equipment by workers at work, without prejudice to more stringent or specific provisions contained in this Directive.

Article 137(2) of the Treaty provides that the Council may adopt, by means of directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, in particular, of the working environment so as to protect workers’ health and safety.

Pursuant to the said Article, such directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings.

The provisions adopted pursuant to Article 137(2) of the Treaty do not preclude any Member State from maintaining or introducing more stringent measures for the protection of working conditions provided they are compatible with the Treaty.

Compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health in the use of work equipment is essential in order to ensure the safety and health of workers.

The improvement of occupational safety, hygiene and health is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations.

Work at a height may expose workers to particularly severe risks to their health and safety, notably to the risks of falls from a height and other serious occupational accidents, which account for a large proportion of all accidents, especially of fatal accidents.

This Directive constitutes a practical aspect of the realisation of the social dimension of the internal market.

Pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services^f6, Member States are required to notify the Commission of any draft technical regulations relating to machines, equipment and installations.

This Directive is the most appropriate means of achieving the desired objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time limits for transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Annex III, Part B,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: