By Chris Jones - 27th September 2005
Controversial legislation limiting the exposure of workers to sunlight is the highest profile casualty of a Brussels cull of 68 proposed EU regulations.
The pruning of the European Commission’s legislative agenda was announced to MEPs by EU enterprise and industry chief Gunter Verheugen on Tuesday.
But the move has raised legal and procedural concerns for European Parliament President Josep Borrell.
He indicated that it was unclear whether Verheugen has the right to arbitrarily withdraw legislation awaiting approval from MEPs and national governments.
As part of the its agenda to boost jobs and growth by cutting red tape, the commission has examined 183 proposals dated prior to January 1 2004.
EU officials have examined the likely impact on competitiveness, the speed of their progress through the legislative pipeline and relevance to the current economic, social and political climate.
Axed or revised
Based on these criteria, the commission has decided to withdraw 68 proposals – 31 per cent of all those examined – on a wide range of issues.
A further five proposals will be maintained but subjected to rigorous economic impact analyses.
Most of the proposed directive on exposure to optical radiation, including sunlight, will remain intact.
But the commission has agreed with MEPs that aspects relating to the exposure to sunlight should be dropped in order to facilitate an agreement on the rest of the proposal.
Another controversial piece of legislation to be revised is EU employment rights covering the pay and conditions of temporary workers.
The commission is to “reconsider the proposal in the light of future discussions on other proposals” - wording that is unlikely to reassure trade unions supporters that protection will not be watered down to appease some member states.
Hit list
Other legislation on the commission’s hit list is less contentious. For example, a proposal on the regulation of sales promotions within the EU, blocked since 2002, has been withdrawn because several member states are opposed to harmonising rules in this area, and the commission has simply decided that an agreement is unlikely to be reached.
Some proposals - such as legislation on the creation of a European association and European mutual society - have been stalled for so long that they have simply become obsolete, while others like the 1997 rules on the competence of airline cabin crews have been integrated into more up-to-date proposals.
The five proposals to be subjected to further impact analyses include a 2003 regulation on waste shipments and a 2002 proposal on modifications to the VAT scheme for travel agents.
Legal right?
Verheugen presented the list to MEPs at Strasbourg on Tuesday evening in line with an agreement to inform MEPs of better regulation measures, but Borrell earlier cast doubt on the commission’s legal right to withdraw the proposals.
“Can the commission withdraw a text on which there is already a common position in council? It depends which lawyer you ask. Some say it can, some say it can’t. We will have to await the advice of the legal services on this matter,” he told reporters.
“Committees are still discussing a number of the proposals the commission is looking to scrap, and they will have to make their own decisions on what to do. Parliament could still decide not to support the commission’s move without proper legislation in place. We will have to look at the list on a case-by-case basis.”
Some MEPs welcomed the commission’s move, but urged it to take further action to reduce red tape by tackling the 80,000 pages of existing EU rules, and in particular employment regulations that hamper competitiveness.
"This initial response is timid but at least it's a welcome and belated step in the right direction. However, it must mark the beginning of the process and not the end,” said Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the UK Conservatives.
“What the EU needs urgently is a bold and sustained attack on existing legislation.
Top of the list for review should be the various employment directives concerning working time that limit flexibility for employees and workers alike.”
"The door for reform is at last ajar: we now need to blast it wide open.”
The commission will begin work on simplifying and analysing existing EU legislation in October.
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