Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
About HSE
The European Commission (EC) has sole right of initiation for new legislative proposals which are adopted by the Council of Ministers (or, with co-decision, the Council of Ministers and European Parliament).
These proposals are put to Member States through the Council of Ministers and are debated and amended during various stages until they are eventually agreed and come into force. During these different stages of the process, the HSE has the opportunity to affect the health and safety legislation coming from Europe. By providing expert advice to UK Rep, who negotiate on behalf of the UK Government, HSE aims to ensure that any new proposals will achieve real improvements in health and safety and are in line with the UK’s approach to health and safety .
In recent years, most new health and safety legislation in the UK has been introduced to implement Directives. There is now a developed body of EU health and safety legislation and it appears that we are in the beginning of a consolidation period which will allow Member States to ensure proper implementation and enforcement of the existing legislation.