Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

195. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of transposing European Union Directive 2013/35/EU; how derogations provided in the directive will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41816/15]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Directive 2013/35/EU on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) has a transposition deadline of 1 July 2016. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the agency with responsibility for enforcing the measures which will give effect to this Directive in Ireland. The Authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 57 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, has produced a draft set of Regulations which are now being scrutinised by departmental officials in advance of settlement by legal counsel. As part of the transposition process the Authority also prepared a Regulatory Impact Assessment and this together with a set of draft Regulations was made available on the HSA website as part of a public consultation in June/July 2015. There was also a public call for submissions via the web site and the Authority sought submissions from other interested organisations including:

- The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

- The Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources

- Members of Electro Technical Council of Ireland (ETCI), Technical Committee (TC15), Human Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields

- ESB

- RTE

- Eircom

- Mobile phone operators

- Health Services Executive (HSE)

- Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (IBEC)

- Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)

- Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM), RCPI

- Occupational physicians

- Medical physicists

- Medical equipment suppliers

The derogations provided for in Directive 2013/35/EU are set out in Article 10 and these derogations are mirrored in the draft Regulations currently being scrutinised. The derogation relating to military personnel contained in Directive 2013/35/EU is not explicitly stated in the draft Regulations, however section 6(2) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 outlines the circumstances where the statutory provisions of occupational safety and health legislation do not apply to members of the Defence Forces.