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EAEA Position on the Directive Regarding the Exposure of Workers to Risks Arising from Physical Agents (Noise)

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European Parliament legislative resolution on the Council common position for adopting a European Parliament and Council Directive on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from physical agents (Noise) (seventeenth specific Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/CEE) (10479/1/2001 - C5-0546/2001 - 1992/0449 A (COD))

Paris, April 3, 2002

Ladies and Gentlemen Members of Parliament and Members of the Council of Ministers,

In order to provide you with certain elements which might be of assistance to you during the examination which you will be carrying out within the Conciliation Committee, the European Arts and Entertainment Alliance (EAEA) made up by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and Media and Entertainment International (UNI-MEI), would like to forward to you the following position.

EAEA represents several hundred thousand performing arts' workers in Europe. Our member unions represent musicians, singers, actors, dancers and technicians who help this sector express its creative and cultural potential.

At this stage, our comments will only have bearing on amendment no. 23 adopted by the European Parliament on second reading on March 13, 2002.

We should like to remind you that EAEA and the Performing Arts Employers Association League Europe (PEARLE) who sit together in the European Social Dialogue Committee for the Performing Arts instituted by the European Commission, had forwarded the following proposed amendment to the European Parliament for its second reading:

"Member States recognise that the live performing arts sector requires a regulation that shall be better adapted to its specificities. Consequently, specific rules shall be worked out with the preliminary consultation of the social partners in order to guarantee the effective health protection of these professionals without being detrimental to the interests of the artistic activity and to the development of employment in the sector".

The reason behind this amendment was based on pragmatism and efficiency, and the will to bring about a real protection for the performing arts sector workers. The proposal had number of advantages, namely to:

• promote the specific needs of the sector whilst respecting the prime concern of the Directive's initiators, i.e. that of ensuring the efficient protection of workers' health;

• foster a sectorial collective bargaining at Community level, in accordance with the objectives set by article 6 of the European Social Charter (an objective which the European Commission strives to promote by setting up Sectorial European Social Dialogue Committees) to make sure that any improvement in the protection of workers' health does not place such sectors in difficulty;

In the enclosed letter which was sent to the Members of the European Parliament, we put forward further elements justifying our request to adopt protecting measures specific to the music and entertainment sectors, in order not to jeopardize the employment but also to promote more efficient systems of health protection.

Unfortunately, amendment no. 23 adopted by the Parliament does not exactly correspond to the concerns that were voiced by us. It contains a genuine danger which we firmly wish to oppose, as it might lead to denying any right to an efficient protection of music and entertainment workers against the excessive exposure to noise. Moreover, this amendment would also go against the spirit expressed in our former position.

The amendment states that within a period of five years from its coming into force, the Directive will not be applicable to the music and entertainment sectors. During the first two years, the Commission is to draft a report in collaboration with the social partners, aiming to analyze the implications of the Directive for the music and the entertainment sectors. On the basis of this report, the Commission shall submit a proposal to the Council calling either for these activities to be regulated by appropriate measures or for music and the performing arts to be excluded from the Directive's field of application.

Should no proposal be issued by the Commission, the Directive shall be applied to those sectors five years after its coming into force.

As an umbrella trade union organization representing music and entertainment workers, we should like to make the following comment and recommend an improvement of the Parliament's first amendment.

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