Pursuant to Article 153 of the Treaty, the European Parliament and the Council may adopt, by means of directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, in particular in the working environment, to ensure a better level of protection of the health and safety of workers. Such directives should avoid holding back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings and their potential to create jobs. Good health and safety standards should not be considered as constraints, since they are fundamental rights and are to be applied without exception to all sectors of the labour market and all types of undertakings regardless of their size.

Article 31(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides that every worker has the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity.

The amendments to Directive 92/85/EEC do not address the issue of hazardous substances and mixtures which can adversely affect fertility of pregnant workers or workers who have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding, since the aim of this Directive is only to update references and terminology set out in that Directive. However, taking account of the evolving scientific evidence regarding this issue together with the increased sophistication of classification of these effects, the Commission should consider the most appropriate means for addressing such effects.

The amendments to Directives 92/85/EEC and 94/33/EC should align the approach taken in those Directives to the wording adopted under Directive 98/24/EC in so far as the words ‘substances labelled’, in Section A point 3(a) of Annex I to Directive 92/85/EEC and ‘substances and preparations classified’ in Section I point 3(a) of the Annex to Directive 94/33/EC are replaced by the wording ‘substances and mixtures which meet the criteria for classification’. This Directive does not impose obligations on employers as regards classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures covered by Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. Regardless of whether or not the substances or mixtures are placed on the market, the employer needs to carry out an assessment of risk of all hazardous chemical agents in accordance with Directive 98/24/EC.

In accordance with Article 154 of the Treaty, the Commission consulted the social partners on the possible direction of Union action in this field and the social partners indicated that explanatory guidance in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises is useful.

Following this consultation, the Commission considered that Union action was desirable and consulted the social partners on the content of the envisaged proposal, in accordance with Article 154 of the Treaty.

Following this second phase of consultation, the social partners did not wish to initiate the process which could lead to the conclusion of an agreement as set out in Article 155 of the Treaty,