Documents regulatory impact 215 results

"Objective The ability of occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation and regulatory enforcement to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses is contingent on political, economic, and organizational conditions. This systematic review of qualitative research articles considers how OHS legislation and regulatory enforcement are planned and implemented.Methods A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed, English-language articles published between 1990 and 2013 yielded 11 947 articles. We identified 34 qualitative articles as relevant, 18 of which passed our quality assessment and proceeded to meta-ethnographic synthesis. Results The synthesis yielded four main themes: OHS regulation formation, regulation challenges, inspector organization, and worker representation in OHS. It illuminates how OHS legislation can be based on normative suppositions about worker and employer behavior and shaped by economic and political resources of parties. It also shows how implementation of OHS legislation is affected by “general duty” law, agency coordination, resourcing of inspectorates, and ability of workers to participate in the system. Conclusions The review identifies methodological gaps and identifies promising areas for further research in “grey” zones of legislation implementation."

" The increasing politicisation of the better regulation agenda, including REFIT, the latest initiative in this context, has led to the introduction of a rhetoric according to which any piece of legislation is deemed an obstacle to growth, competitiveness and employment, as well as particularly burdensome for SMEs. Quite apart from the criticism that can be levelled at its expensive, time-consuming, qualitatively questionable and still predominantly one-sided evaulation process, REFIT has become a real threat to the social acquis communautaire.

This policy brief describes the historical and political background of the EU's 'Regulatory Fitness and Performance' (REFIT)' programme, its mechanisms and instruments as well as challenges of this exercise in 'better regulation' for Social Europe."

"With nanotechnology we are not only moving into a new technological world but into ‘a new legal, ethical, economic, social, cultural and political one too'. The article examines the questions of value preference in this transition to the new technological world and proposes to employ the moral concept of beneficence as a regulatory virtue for the governance of nanotechnology. Setting up the concept of beneficence against the concept of justice, the article argues that beneficence, instead of the relatively inferior virtue of justice, is the appropriate regulatory virtue for the governance of nanotechnology. It proposes the ‘beneficent regulation of nanotechnology' which will be distinctive for its direct engagement with substantive and normative values as distinguished from previous proposals of regulation which were largely short on substantive values."

"I prodotti chimici sono parte integrante della nostra vita quotidiana. Sono presenti in buona parte dei beni di consumo di uso più comune e presentano senza dubbio una serie di vantaggi di cui la nostra società, allo stato attuale, non saprebbe fare a meno. D'altro canto, purtroppo, si deve prendere atto che un buon numero degli stessi pone problemi in termini di salute e ambiente. Ciò è in parte la conseguenza dei limiti della attuale legislazione europea che ha permesso la commercializzazione di numerose sostanze chimiche senza sapere effettivamente quali possano essere i loro effetti sulla salute dell'uomo e sull'ambiente. La proposta di riforma della legislazione europea sul commercio delle sostanze chimiche denominata REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals) intende affrontare questo problema perseguendo due obiettivi principali: assicurare un alto livello di protezione della salute umana e dell'ambiente e rafforzare la posizione concorrenziale dell'industria europea. ..."

"Las sustancias químicas son parte integral de nuestras vidas. Están presentes en la mayoría de los productos de consumo cotidianos y no hay duda de que ofrecen innumerables ventajas, sin las cuales sería imposible la vida moderna. Lamentablemente hay que reconocer también que un gran número de éstas sustancias son las responsables de graves daños a la salud humana y al medioambiente. Muchas sustancias químicas se comercializan sin que conozcamos realmente qué efectos nocivos tienen para la salud y el entorno, en parte debido a fallos en la legislación europea.
La propuesta de reforma de la legislación europea sobre comercialización de sustancias químicas conocida como REACH (siglas en inglés de Registro, Evaluación y Autorización de Sustancias Químicas), tiene como objetivo abordar ese problema con dos finalidades principales: asegurar un alto nivel de protección de la salud humana y el medioambiente y reforzar la competitividad de la industria química europea. Los trabajadores europeos pueden beneficiarse de este cambio legislativo enormemente ya que en la actualidad la fabricación y utilización de sustancias químicas en el lugar de trabajo les afecta en gran medida. De hecho, aproximadamente una de cada tres enfermedades profesionales reconocidas cada año en Europa, puede atribuirse a la exposición a sustancias químicas."

"The study, done by the University of Sheffield, shows that REACH would help avoid 50,000 cases of occupational respiratory diseases and 40,000 cases of occupational skin diseases from exposure to dangerous chemicals in Europe each year. That would add up to total average savings of 3.5 billion euros over 10 years for the EU-25. The savings would boost social security coffers through reduced sickness benefit payments, while workers will enjoy health-related quality of life gains, and employers in all sectors will avoid productivity losses from sickness absenteeism."

"The proposed reform of the European legislation on trade in chemical substances, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals), pursues two main aims: ensuring a high level of protection for human health and the environment; and strengthening the competitiveness of the European chemical industry.
European workers stand to benefit enormously from this reform, since at present the manufacture and use of chemicals in the workplace takes a heavy toll on them. Indeed, approximately one out of every three occupational diseases recognised annually in Europe can be ascribed to exposure to hazardous chemicals.
In order to better understand in what way the REACH reform represents a real opportunity to reduce the number of occupational diseases related to exposure to dangerous substances, this publication begins by examining the reasons why a reform is needed; it then describes the content of the REACH reform and the changes it will make to the existing legislation. It concludes by explaining the state of play in the legislative process underway at the European Parliament and the Council, which should result in the adoption of the REACH Regulation."