Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) (XXth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)

The aim of this proposal is to amend Directive 2004/40/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields).

In 2006, the medical community informed the Commission of its concerns regarding the implementation of this Directive, claiming that the exposure limit values laid down therein would limit to a disproportionate extent the use and development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), considered today to be a vital tool for the diagnosis and treatment of several diseases. Subsequently, other industrial sectors also expressed their concerns about the impact of the Directive on their activities.

In response to these concerns, the Commission has taken a number of measures. For reasons of transparency, it contacted the Member States and the European Parliament to inform them of the measures it planned to take. In this context, it asked the Member States to inform it of any difficulties associated with implementation of the Directive. It also launched a study to assess the actual impact of the Directive on medical procedures using MRI. The results of this study were made available in early 2008.

Meanwhile, the deadline for transposition was put back from 30 April 2008 to 30 April 2012 by Directive 2008/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008.

This proposal will enable the provisions of the current Directive to be updated in the light of the latest scientific findings on the impact of electromagnetic radiation on health, which were not yet available at the time of the adoption of Directive 2004/40/EC.

European Commission: SEC(2011)750: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SEC:2011:0750:FIN:EN:PDF

European Commission: SEC(2011)751: Summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SEC:2011:0751:FIN:EN:PDF

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)348: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:348:FIN

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