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THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1), drawn up after consultation with the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and other Extractive Industries,
In cooperation with the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Whereas Article 118a of the EEC Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of Directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;
Whereas, pursuant to that Article, such Directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;
Whereas the improvement of workers’ safety, hygiene and health at work is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations;
Whereas Council Directive 89/654/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace (first individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC(4)) does not apply to the extractive industries;
Whereas compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health for the mineral-extracting industries through drilling is essential to ensure the safety and health of workers;
Whereas the mineral-extracting industries through drilling constitute an area of activity likely to expose workers to particularly high levels of risk;
Whereas this Directive is an individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work(5); whereas, therefore, the provisions of the said Directive apply in full to the mineral-extracting industries through drilling without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive;
Whereas this Directive is a practical contribution towards creating the social dimension of the internal market,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: