Press Release: European Court supports UK safety laws (Case C127-05 European Commission v United Kingdom)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), on 14 June 2007, upheld one of the key elements of British health and safety law. The EC brought the case against the United Kingdom in the ECJ, challenging the UK’s implementation of European Directive 89/391/EEC, on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (The Framework Directive). The Commission’s action was founded on the UK’s use of the phrase 'so far as is reasonably practicable' in section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA). The EC believed that this amounts to defective implementation of the Directive, which does not contain such a qualification. The EC referred the case to the ECJ (Case C-127/05) on 21 March 2005. An oral hearing at the ECJ in Luxembourg took place on 13 September 2006 and an Opinion, favorable to the UK, was delivered by the Court’s Advocate General on 18 January 2007.

European Court of Justice: Press Release, No.41, 2007 http://curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp07/aff/cp070041en.pdf

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