On Thursday 15 January, the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs gave a generally favourable reception to the draft report by Liesbet Sommen (EPP, Belgian) on the sixth revision of the directive known as ‘CMRD’ on carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances at work (see EUROPE 13786/19).
But several groups have already expressed their difficulty with the proposed limit values for cobalt, an essential critical substance that the Belgian MEP also wanted to look at from an EU-competitiveness angle.
The S&D, Greens/EFA and The Left groups in particular considered the rapporteur’s proposals insufficiently ambitious.
“For cobalt and its inorganic compounds, the limit values of 0.02 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0.0042 mg/m³ (respirable fraction) should apply”, the report proposes.
The Commission text proposes “a limit value of 0.01 mg/m³ for the inhalable fraction and 0.0025 mg/m³ for the respirable fraction in the short term”, but considers it necessary to introduce a transitional period of six years after the entry into force of this directive, during which the limit values of 0.02 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0.0042 mg/m³ (respirable fraction) should apply.
While most of the groups welcomed the introduction of isoprene into the directive, the PfE group regretted this choice, judging the risk to be very low and wondering whether it would not lead to disproportionate measures for companies, as Margarita de la Pisa Carrión from Spain put it.
The ECR group, for its part, felt that the transition period proposed by the Commission for cobalt was too short, insisting on the need to take account of the realities of micro-enterprises and give them the necessary time.
The Greens/EFA Group, like the left-wing groups, also insisted on the gender dimension and on taking into account the risks taken by firefighters and other first-aiders. The Belgian rapporteur had already included elements to this effect, but the Greens/EFA will seek to strengthen them.
Renew Europe, for its part, has also focused on SMEs, as worker protection and competitiveness must go hand in hand.
Liesbet Sommen said she was “confident” after this first round of discussions, which highlighted “convergences”. The deadline for tabling amendments is 21 January. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)