Brussels, 14/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - At a conference last Friday and Saturday in Brussels on the reform of European legislation on chemical substances (REACH), the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC) reiterated its position in favour of the adoption of this reform as soon as possible. However, it feels that improvements could be possible before Parliament and Council approve the draft definitively. The conference, which was attended by people such as Lucien Lux, the Luxembourg minister for the environment, Stavros Dimas, the Commissioner for the Environment, Guido Sacconi, the EP's rapporteur on REACH, Jean-Paul Mingasson of Unice (European employers association), focused on how the REACH legislation could be improved.
According to ETUC's statement, REACH should considerably influence the efficacy of existing legislation on the protection of workers exposed to dangerous substances in various fields of activity, such as: -plugging the gaps in information on the properties of chemicals; -publishing chemical security data, under the “right to know” (a point on which the Secretary General of ETUC, John Monks, was particularly insistent); -calling for adequate distribution of information to downstream users and staff, to fight the risks of work-related disease. To ensure a genuine improvement in health and safety protection for workers exposed to chemicals, ETUC is calling for particular attention to be paid to the compatibility of obligations under the health and safety at work directives with those under the REACH system, stressing that REACH will favour innovation in the chemical industry by encouraging it to develop new substances which are better for the health of workers and consumers and for the environment.
The Unionists also feel that “the costs and benefits of REACH must be seen from three dimensions- social, environmental and economic- in order to assess the efficiency of the new system and its impact on health and safety”. ETUC also feels that “better understanding of the potential effects, positive and negative, which REACH could have on employment in various sectors” is very important. The Unionists take the view that REACH “is a major stake for the whole of European society, as part of the process of building a Europe which is at pains to develop a job market which works not just in quantitative terms, but in qualitative terms as well”.
“This subject has led to many rows and the debate is a tough one”, said Joël Decaillon, confederal secretary of ETUC and initiator of the conference. “Our position has been taken seriously (…) because we want this legislation to be applied in such a way as to take account of developments in the sector”, he added. REACH will not only create obligations on producers (chemical industry), but also for many users of chemical products (construction industry, timber, automotive, textiles, agriculture, service providers in the field of the environment and health, etc), he pointed out.
During a press conference, the director of DG Environment at the Commission, Jos Delbeke, stressed the importance of creating a balance between stepping up the health protection of workers and of the environment from the dangers of chemicals and improving the competitiveness of the European chemical industry. Rapporteur Guido Sacconi (PES, Italy), who is highly optimistic, noted the “ETUC's political position is very important, just as the EP starts its legislative work on the subject”. Speaking on behalf of Lucien Lux, André Weidenhaupt, REACH coordinator for the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, said that “the main concern of the President of the Environment Council of the EU is to attain a high level of protection for the environment and workers' health, but also to end up with a well-balanced, flexible REACH which is practicable at all levels and not excessively bureaucratic, for companies and national and European public authorities alike”.