Under the Treaty the Council may, by means of directives, adopt minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a better level of protection of the health and safety of workers. Such directives are to avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings.

The communication from the Commission concerning its action programme relating to the implementation of the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers provides for the introduction of minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks caused by physical agents. In September 1990 the European Parliament adopted a resolution concerning this action programme4, inviting the Commission in particular to draw up a specific directive on the risks caused by noise and vibration and by any other physical agents at the workplace.

As a first step, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2002/44/EC of 25 June 2002 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (vibration) (16th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)5. Next, on 6 February 2003, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2003/10/EC on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (noise) (17th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)6.

It is now considered necessary to introduce measures protecting workers from the risks associated with electromagnetic fields, owing to their effects on the health and safety of workers. However, the long-term effects, including possible carcinogenic effects due to exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields for which there is no conclusive scientific evidence establishing a causal relationship, are not addressed in this Directive. These measures are intended not only to ensure the health and safety of each worker on an individual basis, but also to create a minimum basis of protection for all Community workers, in order to avoid possible distortions of competition.

This Directive lays down minimum requirements, thus giving Member States the option of maintaining or adopting more favourable provisions for the protection of workers, in particular the fixing of lower values for the action values or the exposure limit values for electromagnetic fields. The implementation of this Directive should not serve to justify any regression in relation to the situation which already prevails in each Member State.

A system of protection against electromagnetic fields should limit itself to a definition, free of excessive detail, of the objectives to be attained, the principles to be observed and the fundamental values to be applied, in order to enable Member States to apply the minimum requirements in an equivalent manner.

The level of exposure to electromagnetic fields can be more effectively reduced by incorporating preventive measures into the design of workstations and by selecting work equipment, procedures and methods so as to give priority to reducing the risks at source. Provisions relating to work equipment and methods thus contribute to the protection of the workers involved.

Employers should make adjustments in the light of technical progress and scientific knowledge regarding risks related to exposure to electromagnetic fields, with a view to improving the safety and health protection of workers.

Since 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 work7, that Directive therefore applies to the exposure of workers to electromagnetic fields, without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive.

This Directive constitutes a practical step towards creating the social dimension of the internal market.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission8.

Adherence to the exposure limit and action values should provide a high level of protection as regards the established health effects that may result from exposure to electromagnetic fields but such adherence may not necessarily avoid interference problems with, or effects on the functioning of, medical devices such as metallic prostheses, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, cochlear implants and other implants; interference problems especially with pacemakers may occur at levels below the action values and should therefore be the object of appropriate precautions and protective measures,