Brussels, 30/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - At the end of July the Commission presented a document comprising options liable to be adopted with a view to simplifying and improving legislation in the field of equality of treatment for men and women. The aim of the document is to strengthen the participation of all parties involved in this process (the other community institutions, Member States, social partners, NGOs and women's organisations). The Commission has invited interested parties to a public consultation so that they can present their observations.
In order to successfully complete the simplification process, the Commission identifies three approaches: consolidation, codification and recasting of legislation in the area of equal treatment between men and women. The legal basis is article 141 EC para.3 of the EC Treaty (ex article 119) which allows for equal treatment of men and women in employment and work. In this respect, the Commission states that several options are conceivable: (1) combine in two distinct legal acts the provisions of the basic directives and those that modify these basic directives (directives relating to: employment, professional training and promotion and working conditions; equal treatment between men and women in professional social security systems; the burden of proof); (2) combine all the directives implementing the principle of equal pay between men and women within the meaning of article 141 in addition to the directives on equality in the area of access to employment, professional training and promotion, working conditions, and the directive on burden of proof; (3) combine option 2 with the provisions of the directive on maternity which does not exclusively relate to safety and health at work but which also concerns working conditions. The Commission specifies that the legislation which would not be included are those on: maternity leave, parental leave, equal treatment for the self-employed and their assisting spouse, equal treatment in the framework of social security systems available by law. (For details, see http: //http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/ employment_social/news/200: Jul/consultation_ en.html).
European Association of Paritarian Institutions calls for a new text
Interested in the subject of simplification and improvement of legislation regarding gender equality at work, the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) highlights the "the need to make sure the application of these principles does not end up creating reverse discrimination or generating results that are disproportionate to the desired result". According to the AEIP, "the double objective of legal security and readability pleads in favour of adopting a new text": thus, "a new legal act based on article 141 of the Treaty should allow consolidation and clarification of the definitions within the framework of this community process, without, however, adding to the rule of law".
The AEIP made the following remarks in particular: (1)regulation No 1408/71 on social security systems, and particularly pension schemes: according to the AEIP the scope of a potential directive must be clarified, making a distinction between the first pillar systems, which are linked to a Member State's social policy, and those of the second pillar which cover occupational schemes"; (2) 2) possibilities for remedying difficulties implementing “equality” in occupational systems: the AEIP proposes to examine the possibility of creating a European platform which would enable debate on the technical aspects of the implementation of the principles of equality and the Court of Justice's decisions, and whose objective would be to limit grounds of appeal to the courts.