European Commission backs Euro-MP to scrap tan ban legislation

10.49.23am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 27th Sep 2005

Following a screening of pending legislative proposals, the European Commission has opted to scrap aspects of the optical radiation directive dealing with the exposure of workers to sunlight. It is a victory for Liz Lynne MEP who campaigned against the so-called tan ban.

Speaking today in Strasbourg the Liberal Democrat MEP and ALDE Shadow Rapporteur for the Optical Radiation Directive said,

"This is another victory for us in our battle to protect a workers' right to be bare-chested or wear shorts if they want to.

"The Parliament sent a clear message to the Commission and the Council that it was not right for us to try and legislate at EU level to include natural radiation in an otherwise sensible directive to protect workers from artificial radiation. All people should be warned about the dangers of overexposure to the sun but it should not be the employers' responsibility.

"I am glad that the Commission has listened to the Parliament and I now call on the Council, including our UK Ministers, to follow suit.

"The Commission's new programme of deregulation is welcome news generally. I am also pleased that the Temporary Workers Directive has been put on hold. There are many sensible directives coming out of the EU, and those are the ones we should be focusing on, not ones that are either unnecessary at EU level or are just plain daft. A one-size fits all approach is quite often not the way forward."

Ends.

Note to Editors:

The details are enclosed in the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the outcome of the screening of legislative proposals pending before the legislator.