Access to EU Law REMINDER (Britain)

I am reminding you – Cardinal Environment Limited EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists applicable in Britain, and the variants of Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), still have access to EU Law.

Up to date EU Law (as applies in France and Ireland) is found on the top left hand side as a look up List. In both OHS and ENV.

As Retained EU Law is removed from the statute book in Britain, manufacturers and distributors will be operating the two systems – the British system and the EU system. So we will keep Access to EU Law on going on British Registers & Checklists.

Any questions, and you are a current subscriber to Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers and Checklists, please email them to me.

Obviously, subscribers to Registers and Checklists in Ireland, France and other EU and EEA (for example Norway) have EU Law inserted into the Registers and Checklists as standard, and not simply a look up list.

I will continue to post about changes and developments to EU Law on this Blog. So followers of Blog will have this heads-up.

EU Law developments will not appear in British Email Alerts, however. They will appear in Email Alerts for Ireland, France etc.

If anything is unclear, and you are a subscriber to our Registers & Checklists, email me. Replies to this Blog itself will not be addressed, and most likely won’t be published.

5th List of Occupational Exposure Limits (EU)

Directive 2019/1831 (amending Directive 2000/39/EC) establishes a fifth list of indicative occupational exposure limits (IOELVs) for chemical agents.

For any chemical agent for which an IOELV has been set at European Union level, Member States are required to establish a national occupational exposure limit value. They also are required to take into account the Union limit value determining the nature of the national limit value in accordance with national legislation and practice.

Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 20th May 2021 at the latest.

The Directive establishes limit values for the following chemical agents:

Aniline

Chloromethane

Trimethylamine

2-Phenylpropane (Cumene)

sec-Butyl acetate

4-aminotoluene

Isobutyl acetateIsobutyl acetate

Isoamyl alcohol

n-Butyl acetate

Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists will be updated shortly.

EU Drinking Water Directive (EU)

The current Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC last amended in 2015, is replaced by a new Drinking Water Directive (EU) 2020/2184 in force 12th January 2021. Member states have two years to bring in national legislation. We will add this Directive to Cardinal EHS Legislation Registers &a Checklists shortly.

The new EU Drinking Water Directive is here.

Key features of the revised Directive are:

• Reinforced water quality standards which are more stringent than WHO recommendations.

• Tackling emerging pollutants, such as endocrine disruptors and PFA’s, as well as microplastics – for which harmonised analytical methods will be developed in 2021.

• A preventive approach favouring actions to reduce pollution at source by introducing the “risk based approach”. This is based on an in-depth analysis of the whole water cycle, from source to distribution.

• Measures to ensure better access to water, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised groups.

• Measures to promote tap water, including in public spaces and restaurants, to reduce (plastic) bottle consumption.

• Harmonisation of the quality standards for materials and products in contact with water, including a reinforcement of the limit values for lead. This will be regulated at EU level with the support of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

• Measures to reduce water leakages and to increase transparency of the sector.

UK Review of EU Competencies

The UK government is presently engaged in a review of the EU’s competences, which the Foreign Secretary launched in July 2012. This review is an audit of what the EU does and how it affects the UK.

The review is broken down into a number of individual reports covering specific areas of competence, and is taking place over the course of 4 semesters:

Autumn 2012 to Summer 2013
Spring 2013 to Winter 2013
Autumn 2013 to Summer 2014
Spring 2014 to Autumn 2014

The process is – Government departments consult Parliament and its committees, business, the devolved administrations, and civil society to look in depth at how the EU’s competences (the power to act in particular areas conferred on it by the EU Treaties) work in practice. Individuals and organisations may submit evidence to the review.

The UK’s European partners and the EU institutions also contribute evidence to the review, and the review examines issues that are of interest across the EU.

Government departments will then report on areas of competence and their findings will be published during the course of the review.

Environment and Climate Change, and Transport were part of Semester 2 (consultation is closed, reports not yet published). Agriculture, Health and Safety (as part of employment), Fisheries and Energy are part of Semester 3 (consultation underway).

Further information (FAQs), including how to submit evidence, is here.

The review will not make policy.