9. Council Directive 98/24/EC of 7 April 1998 on the protection of the health and safety of workers from the risks related to chemical agents at work (fourteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) OJ L 131, 5.5.1998, p. 11.

In order to achieve adequate protection of workers from risks to their health and safety and to take account of technical harmonisation and standardisation, technical progress, changes in international standards or specifications and new findings concerning chemical agents, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to make strictly technical amendments to the Annexes to Directive 98/24/EC, and to supplement that Directive by establishing or revising indicative occupational exposure limit values. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. Accordingly, Directive 98/24/EC is amended as follows: in Article 3(2), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 12a in order to supplement this Directive by establishing or revising the indicative occupational exposure limit values referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, taking into account the availability of measurement techniques. Member States shall keep workers’ and employers’ organisations informed of indicative occupational exposure limit values set at Union level. Where, in duly justified and exceptional cases involving imminent, direct and serious risks to workers’ and other persons’ physical health and safety, imperative grounds of urgency require action in a very short timeframe, the procedure provided for in Article 12b shall apply to delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Article.’; in Article 12, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 12a to make strictly technical amendments to the Annexes, in order to take account of technical harmonisation and standardisation concerning chemical agents, as well as technical progress, changes in international standards or specifications and new findings with regard to chemical agents. Where, in duly justified and exceptional cases involving imminent, direct and serious risks to workers’ and other persons’ physical health and safety, imperative grounds of urgency require action in a very short timeframe, the procedure provided for in Article 12b shall apply to delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Article.’; the following Articles are inserted: ‘Article 12a Exercise of the delegation 1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 3(2) and Article 12(1) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 26 July 2019. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 3(2) and Article 12(1) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.’. . 5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 3(2) and Article 12(1) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council. Article 12b Urgency procedure 1. Delegated acts adopted under this Article shall enter into force without delay and shall apply as long as no objection is expressed in accordance with paragraph 2. The notification of a delegated act to the European Parliament and the Council shall state the reasons for the use of the urgency procedure. 2. Either the European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 12a(6). In such a case, the Commission shall repeal the act immediately following the notification of the decision to object by the European Parliament or by the Council.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-13 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.