Skip to content
REPORT (COM(2025)0418 – C100180/2025 – 2025/0232(COD))

On the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2004/37/EC as regards the addition of substances and setting limit values in its Annexes I, III and IIIa

A-10-2026-0100

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs · Rapporteur: Liesbet Sommen

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull textProcedure & committee votes
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 25 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's amended version of the Commission proposal to amend Directive 2004/37/EC on workers' exposure to carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances. It adds new definitions, new Annex I entries for welding fumes and hazardous medicinal products, and binding limit values for cobalt, isoprene, 1,4-dioxane and mercury compounds. It requires the Commission to propose limit values for welding fumes within three years and to include aircraft engine emissions in Annex I, and to consult the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work on compensation for occupational diseases. It sets rules on personal protective equipment, workers' breaks, training, gender mainstreaming, firefighters' protection, combined exposure to substances, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. Member States must transpose the directive within two years of its entry into force.

Committee position. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopts Parliament's first-reading position amending the Commission proposal. It adds definitions, Annex I entries and binding limit values for cobalt, isoprene, 1,4-dioxane and mercury compounds, and requires further Commission action on welding fumes, aircraft engine emissions and occupational disease compensation.

Key points

  1. Adds a definition of hazardous medicinal products as those containing category 1A or 1B carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances, and a definition of medicinal products.
  2. Adds to Annex I work involving exposure to welding fumes and fumes from other processes generating fumes in a similar way that contain such substances.
  3. Adds to Annex I work involving exposure to hazardous medicinal products containing category 1A or 1B carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances.
  4. Sets a long-term occupational exposure limit value for isoprene of 8,5 mg/m3 (3 ppm).
  5. Sets long- and short-term occupational exposure limit values for 1,4-dioxane of 7,3 mg/m³ (2 ppm) and 73 mg/m³ (20 ppm), with a skin notation and a biological limit value of 45 mg HEAA in urine/g creatinine measured at the end of exposure or shift.
  6. Introduces a transitional period of six years for cobalt and its inorganic compounds, during which limit values of 0,02 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0,0042 mg/m³ (respirable fraction) apply.
  7. Clarifies that the limit value for mercury applies only to mercury and divalent inorganic mercury compounds that fall within the scope of Directive 2004/37/EC.
  8. Requires personal protective equipment, in particular respiratory protective devices, to be used where residual exposure cannot be reduced below limit values, and to be correctly maintained, selected and adjusted to fit the wearer.
  9. Gives workers wearing personal protective equipment the right to regular breaks of an appropriate duration in an area free of contamination risk.
  10. Requires training to cover residual risks linked to binding limit values and to be adapted when risks change, including exposure to hazardous medicinal products.
  11. Requires the Commission to begin consultation with the ACSH within 12 months on updating Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/2337 on compensation for occupational diseases, and to include aircraft engine emissions in Annex I.
  12. Requires the Commission to propose limit values for welding fumes within three years, and to take into account RAC and ACSH opinions when proposing limit values, giving reasons if no opinion exists.

Who is affected

  • Employers in sectors using cobalt, isoprene, 1,4-dioxane, welding fumes or hazardous medicinal products, who must apply the new limit values and protective measures.
  • Workers exposed to carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances, who gain new protection rules, training and break entitlements.
  • Firefighters and emergency services personnel, for whom risk assessment, decontamination and guidance on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are required.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises including microenterprises, which Member States must monitor and may support financially and technically.
  • Member States, which must transpose the directive within two years and improve data collection on exposures.

Figures and deadlines

  • 0,01 mg/m³ for the inhalable fraction and 0,0025 mg/m³ for the respirable fraction — cobalt limit values that are difficult to comply with in the short term.
  • six years after entry into force — transitional period for cobalt, during which 0,02 mg/m³ (inhalable) and 0,0042 mg/m³ (respirable) apply.
  • 8,5 mg/m3 (3 ppm) — long-term occupational exposure limit value for isoprene.
  • 7,3 mg/m³ (2 ppm) and 73 mg/m³ (20 ppm) — long- and short-term limit values for 1,4-dioxane.
  • 45 mg HEAA in urine/g creatinine — biological limit value for 1,4-dioxane, measured at the end of exposure or shift.
  • approximately 330 % by 2050 — projected rise in cobalt consumption due to the green transition.
  • 12 months after entry into force — deadline for the Commission to begin consultation with the ACSH on updating Recommendation (EU) 2022/2337.
  • 3 years after entry into force — deadline for the Commission to propose limit values for welding fumes.

Legal basis: Article 294(2) and Article 153(1) and (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.