EU Legislators Agree on New Limit Values for Certain Chemicals, Other Protections
Negotiators from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament—the EU’s two legislative bodies—reached a provisional agreement last week regarding new exposure limit values for certain chemicals, among other worker protections. The new rules are part of the sixth revision of the carcinogens, mutagens, and reprotoxic substances directive (CMRD), which is intended to protect workers in the EU from exposures to harmful substances. In addition to introducing new exposure limits, the provisional agreement seeks to clarify rules on personal protective equipment, add protections for firefighters and other emergency services personnel, provide training to workers who may be exposed to hazardous medicinal products, and ensure that small and medium-sized businesses receive compliance assistance from EU member states.
Limit values backed by legislators from the council and parliament include new ones for cobalt and its inorganic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 1,4-dioxane as well as a long-term occupational exposure limit value for isoprene. According to documentation from the Legislative Observatory, the European Parliament’s database for tracking proposals through the EU legislative process, the previously proposed limit for cobalt and its inorganic compounds is “0.01 mg/m3 for particles that can be breathed in through the nose and mouth, and 0.0025 mg/m3 for finer particles that can reach deeper into the lungs.” The proposed limit value for PAHs is 0.00007 mg/m3, and the proposed general and short-term exposure limits for 1,4-dioxane are 7.3 mg/m3 and 73 mg/m3, respectively. The proposed limit value for isoprene, a substance used in chemical and rubber production, is 8.5 mg/m3 or 3 ppm.
The council previously supported new wording in the latest revision of the CMRD intended to highlight “the importance of developing further guidance on welding fumes” and explain “that limit values contribute to a significant reduction of risks arising from exposure to carcinogens and mutagens.” But according to a press release published by the European Parliament, parliament insisted that “the European Commission … assess the need to set additional limit values for substances contained in welding fumes.”
Next steps include a review intended to help ensure that the revised rules are legally and linguistically consistent across the official languages of the EU and formal adoption of the provisional agreement by both the council and parliament. Parliament’s press release states that it is expected to vote on the agreement in October.
Further details about the agreement can be found in the European Parliament’s press release and the procedure file on parliament’s Legislative Observatory website.