The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), together with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), has asked the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council to press for a European legal framework for asbestos screening and registration, it said in a press release on 4 April.
The unions have sent two letters, addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy and Employment, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, and to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Affairs and Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, despite the fact that the Commission has still not presented this initiative, announced for the end of 2022, and that the legislative text has apparently been blocked, according to the unions, at the level of the cabinet of the President of the Commission.
The text, which would complement a directive revised in 2022 - and adopted - on occupational exposure values to asbestos, “is vital to protect workers: knowledge of the presence of asbestos is the first and most important prerequisite for the safe removal of any remaining asbestos”, says the organisation.
The European Commission had announced a legislative proposal on the screening and registration of asbestos in buildings for 2023, asking Member States to put in place national strategies for asbestos removal.
“Unfortunately, nothing has happened since”, say the unions. “The Commission is continuing to work on a legislative proposal that it intends to put forward by the end of the parliamentary term. The delay is due to the difficulties and complexity of gathering the relevant data for this proposal”, replied the Commission on 4 April.
Link to correspondence: https://aeur.eu/f/bmh (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)