The Commission shall be assisted by a ‘Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors’, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Committee’.
95/319/EC: Commission Decision of 12 July 1995 setting up a Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors
95/319/EC: Commission Decision of 12 July 1995 setting up a Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Whereas a ‘Group of Senior Labour Inspectors’ has informally been in operation since 1982;
Whereas the Commission communication(1) on its programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work envisages the formalization of regular meetings of this Group;
Whereas the Council conclusions of 21 December 1992 on the effective implementation and enforcement of Community legislation in the area of social affairs(2) invite the Member States and the Commission to encourage and support continued close cooperation between members of the Group, with due regard to the principle of subsidiarity;
Whereas the Commission communication(3) on its programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work provides for the formalization of the ‘Group of Senior Labour Inspectors’ as a Committee;
Whereas the Council resolution of 16 June 1994 on the development of administrative cooperation on the implementation and enforcement of Community legislation in the internal market(4) develops an approach to administrative cooperation between the Member States and between these and the Commission, based on obligations of mutual assistance and transparency and on the principles of proportionality and confidentiality;
Whereas this approach should also be adopted in implementing and enforcing Community social legislation in the field of health and safety at work in particular as stated in the Commission's White Paper on European social policy (§ 10B) and the medium Term Social Action Programme;
Whereas the identification, analysis and resolution of practical problems related to implementing, and monitoring the enforcement of, secondary Community legislation on health and safety at work fall mainly within the competence of national labour inspection services and require close cooperation between those services and the Commission;
Whereas the ‘Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors’, by virtue of its long experience, constitutes an appropriate framework for monitoring, on the basis of close cooperation between its members and the Commission, the effective and equivalent enforcement of secondary Community law on health and safety at work, and for the rigorous analysis of the practical questions involved in monitoring the enforcement of legislation in this field;
Whereas this Decision does not conflict with the obligations of the Member States arising under the ILO Labour Inspection Convention of 11 July 1947 (No 81),
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
1.
2.
The Committee shall consist of representatives of the labour inspection services of the Member States.
Article 2
1.
The Commiteree shall give its opinion to the Commission, either at the Commission's request or on its own initiative, on all problems relating to the enforcement by the Member States of Community law on health and safety at work.
2.
Due to the diversity of the responsibilities of the national labour inspection services, which may go beyond the area of health and safety at work, the Committee, at the request of the Commission or on its own initiative, shall also provide its opinion on matters covering other areas of Community social legislation which have an impact on health and safety at work.
3.
The Committee shall propose to the Commission any initiative which it considers appropriate to encourage the effective enforcement of Community law on health and safety at work, notably by means of a closer cooperation between the national labour inspection systems.
Article 3
The Committee, in assisting the Commission, shall work towards the achievement of the following objectives:
-
defining common principles of labour inspection in the field of health and safety at work and developing methods of assessing the national systems of inspection in relation to those principles;
-
promoting improved knowledge and mutual understanding of the different national systems and practices of labour inspection, the methods and legal frameworks for action;
-
developing exchanges between national labour inspection services of their experiences in monitoring the enforcement of secondary Community law on health and safety at work, so as to ensure its consistent enforcement throughout the Community;
-
promoting exchanges for labour inspectors between national administrations and the setting up of training programmes for inspectors;
-
drawing up and publishing documents to facilitate the activities of labour inspectors;
-
developing a reliable and efficient system of rapid information exchange between labour inspectorates on all problems encountered in monitoring the enforcement of Community legislation in the field of health and safety at work;
-
establishing active cooperation with labour inspectorates of third countries, so as to promote the work done by the Community on health and safety at work and to assist in resolving any cross-border problems;
-
studying the possible impact of other Community policies on labour inspection activities relating to health and safety at work and working conditions.
Article 4
The Committee shall set up a three-year programme, whereby the individual activities to be undertaken shall be specified each year, taking into account the evaluation of the activities undertaken the previous year.