The European Parliament and the Council have come to an agreement on the Commission's second proposal to broaden the list of recognised cancer-causing chemicals in the workplace.

With this agreement, eight additional cancer-causing chemicals will be covered by the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive:

• 4,4'-methylenedianiline;
• epichlorohydrine;
• ethylene dibromide;
• ethylene dichloride;
• benzene;
• trichloroethylene;
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixtures, particularly those containing benzo[a]pyrene, which are carcinogens within the meaning of the Directive;
• mineral oils that have been used before in internal combustion engines to lubricate and cool the moving parts within the engine;
• diesel.

The agreement will now go to the Council's Permanent Representatives committee (Coreper) for approval. Once agreed there it will be sent for a vote in the European Parliament. The EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, called the agreement an important step in protecting European workers from work-related cancer.

Background

The Juncker Commission has taken decisive action to update the legislation on the protection of workers against cancer-causing chemicals. The Commission launched its first proposal in May 2016, which has already been adopted as a Directive by the co-legislators at the end of 2017 (this first proposal included respirable crystalline silica). Today’s provisional agreement marks one of the final steps in the negotiation stage of the second proposal from January 2017. In April 2018, the Commission submitted a third proposal to strengthen the protection of workers against cancer-causing chemicals. 22 cancer-causing chemicals are now covered by the Directive, of which 21 have been added since the start of this Commission mandate.