For Information : Information on developments at the ACSH on the revision of the Biological Agents Directive

To the Employment Committee of the European Parliament

Brussels 31 May 2021

Dear members of the Employment Committee,

As a follow-up to my e-mail of 29 June 2020 (which you will find below), I would like to inform you on the current state of play of the commitment made by the Commission, laid down in the Commission Statement following the presentation of Directive (EU) 2020/739, as published on 26 June 2020 in the Official Journal of the European Union (C212/8). Also, I want to inform you on ETUC’s view with respect to the issue.

The statement included a commitment for the Commission to “without delay assess the need to amend the Biological Agents Directive following the lessons learnt by the unprecedented crisis in view of better preparedness and response planning in all workplaces and inform the European Parliament by the end of 2020.”

The Commission, thereupon, installed a Working Party to prepare draft opinion(s) for adoption by the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health (ACSH). As a first task for the Working Party, the Commission wished that it would submit a draft opinion for the December 2020 Plenary on the question of whether further amendment of the Biological Agents Directive (BAD) is warranted in the light of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the ACSH has not been able to come to a tripartite agreement on this question. Governments and Employers saw no need for a revision of the Directive. As stated in my mail of 29 June 2020, the ETUC , however, clearly sees this need. Since it has not been possible to get an agreement on the inclusion of separate statements in the – otherwise tripartite – opinion, no opinion on Pandemic OSH related issues has been adopted by the ACSH in its Plenary in December 2020, nor in its Plenary of May 2021.

As a result, your Committee has not been able to take note of the workers’ view and their arguments on the question whether further amendment of the Directive would be necessary. Since ETUC feels that, at the basis of principles of democracy and transparency, this view deserves and should be taken into account in the decision-making process on this important issue, I hereby send you the statement of the Workers’ Interest Group that it wished to be included in the opinion that unfortunately has not been adopted.

Best regards,

Per Hilmersson

Deputy General Secretary

Attachment: WIG ACSH Statement on the need to revise the Biological Agents Directive


The need for a revision of the Biological Agents Directive

Brussels 29 June 2020

To the Employment Committee of the European Parliament,

Dear  Member of the Employment Committee,

As a follow-up to my email on May 19th, I would like to thank the Committee for having engaged in the scrutiny procedure of the Commission Directive (EU) 2020/739 amending Annex III to the Biological Agents Directive 2000/54/EC to classify SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) as a biological agent known to infect humans. 

While the European Trade Union Confederation would have preferred SARS-CoV-2 to be classified in the highest risk group, it’s important that the virus now is included in the Directive and we welcome the commitment made by the European Commission – as a result of the scrutiny procedure applied by the EP Employment Committee –  regarding the prevention and protection of the health and safety of workers that are or can be occupationally exposed to the virus.

This commitment is laid down in the Commission Statement following the presentation of Directive (EU) 2020/739, as published on June 26 in the Official Journal of the European Union (C 212/8). The statement includes moreover a commitment for the Commission to “without delay assess the need to amend the Biological Agents Directive following the lessons learnt from the unprecedented crisis in view of better preparedness and response planning in all workplaces and inform the European Parliament by the end of 2020.”

ETUC warmly welcomes this initiative. The process of including SARS-CoV-2 in the Biological Agents Directive has made it quite clear that the Directive (2000/54/EC) as such needs a revision, in particular with regard to the way in which biological agents should be classified in risk groups. The Directive prescribes a classification procedure that, in the view of ETUC, was not followed by the experts that advise the European Commission about the classification. The experts seem to have developed, at least in parts, their own classification system that is both implicit and non-transparent. Furthermore, the situation of a pandemic is not taken into account in the classification system as described in the Directive, nor has it been taken into account by the experts that have advised on the classification of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, although the Directive is an Occupational Safety and Health Directive, it does not say anything about the way in which the hazards of biological agents for workers need to be assessed.

ETUC is looking forward to the forthcoming Commission’s assessment of the Biological Agents Directive and expects, as argued above, that it will lead to a revision. We hope that the Committee will continue taking an active and important part on this issue. 

I remain at your disposal for any question you would have.

Best regards,

Per Hilmersson
Deputy General Secretary