Debate on sunlight law heats up
MEPs in the employment committee are to vote in mid-July on a final version of EU measures on protection from radiation.
But small businesses are concerned the law will cause financial and time-consuming burdens, because protection from sunlight is included in the proposed rules.
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"The current proposal places completely unrealistic and onerous obligations on firms with employees working outdoors and is a perfect example of the type of unnecessary regulation that reinforces the negative public perception of the EU," said Oliver Loebel, from UEAPME, the small and medium-sized enetrprises' lobby.
The pending directive is at its second reading and is part of broader health and safety legislation, designed to protect workers from risks caused by exposure to physical agents.
The social and employment committee debated the member states' common position on the provisions earlier this month.
Some MEPs voiced concerns among SMEs that the new rules should not include radiation from "natural sources" i.e. sunlight.
But the rapporteur for the issue, the Hungarian center-right MEP Csaba Ory told EUobserver "it is only a myth that the measures would cost companies more money and time to implement the directive. Our objective was the opposite - to make sure the small firms would not be affected".
Sunlight within scope
The member states and the European Commission also insist that sunlight should be kept within the scope of the provisions.
"It would be irrational to include artificial sources of radiation like laser and exclude sunlight, because it can also cause health-related damage", said the commission's spokeswoman for social affairs.
She argued the EU executive is not planning to force businesses to provide any high-tech risk assessment measures or instruments to protect their employees.
"It should all be based on the common-sense approach. It is enough to look out of the window and see whether it is safe to have the workers stay under the direct sun for eight hours. That kind of "risk assessment" does not cost anything", she said.
But SMEs are concerned about the parliament's suggestion that the commission should prepare "a practical guideline" with concrete measures that could actually lead to further burdens on companies - both for the daily evaluation of meteorological conditions, and for the protection to be provided, like sunglasses or suncream.
"We think the protection from sunlight should be excluded from the directive and left up for member states to regulate. It is clear sunlight has varied intensity in different parts of Europe, and different people are also affected by it in a different way. So the EU measures in this field would be inconsistent with the subsidiarity principle", said the UEAPME spokesman.
The parliament's amendmends to the proposal will have to be accepted by member states otherwise the third stage, the so-called "conciliation procedure" between parliament and council will have to be applied.