Directive 2019/1833 - Amendment of Annexes I, III, V and VI to Directive 2000/54/EC as regards purely technical adjustments - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 279/54

Principle 10 of the European Pillar of Social Rights (2), proclaimed at Gothenburg on 17 November 2017, provides that every worker has the right to a healthy, safe and well-adapted working environment. The workers’ right to a high level of protection of their health and safety at work and to a working environment that is adapted to their professional needs and that enables them to prolong their participation in the labour market includes protection from exposure to biological agents at work.

The implementation of the directives related to the health and safety of workers at work, including Directive 2000/54/EC, was the subject of an ex-post evaluation, referred to as a REFIT evaluation. The evaluation looked at the directives’ relevance, at research and at new scientific knowledge in the various fields concerned. The REFIT evaluation, referred to in the Commission Staff Working Document (3), concludes, among other things, that the classified list of biological agents in Annex III to Directive 2000/54/EC needs to be amended in light of scientific and technical progress and that consistency with other relevant directives should be enhanced.

In its Communication ‘Safer and Healthier Work for All — Modernisation of the EU Occupational Safety and Health Legislation and Policy’ (4), the Commission reiterated that while the REFIT evaluation of the Union’s acquis on occupational health and safety confirmed that the legislation in this field is generally effective and fit-for-purpose, there is scope for updating outdated rules and ensuring better and broader protection, compliance and enforcement on the ground. The Commission emphasises the particular need to update the list of biological agents in Annex III to Directive 2000/54/EC.

Directive 2000/54/EC lays down rules to protect workers against risks to their health and safety, including the prevention of such risks, arising or likely to arise from exposure to biological agents at work. Directive 2000/54/EC applies to activities in which workers are exposed, or are potentially exposed, to biological agents as a result of their work, and states the measures to be taken in the case of any activity likely to involve a risk of exposure to biological agents, to determine the nature, degree and duration of workers’ exposure to biological agents.

Since the results of a risk assessment can show an unintended exposure to biological agents, there could be other work activities not included in Annex I to Directive 2000/54/EC that should also be taken into consideration. Therefore, the indicative list of activities set out in Annex I to Directive 2000/54/EC should be amended to include an introductory phrase in order to clarify the non-exhaustive nature of the list.

Annex III to Directive 2000/54/EC sets out the list of biological agents known to infect humans, classified according to their level of risk of infection. In line with introductory note 6 in that Annex, the list should be amended to take into account the latest state of knowledge as regards scientific development that have brought about significant changes since the list was last updated, particularly as regards the taxonomy,...