Recent press coverage on “EU’s high heel ban for salon staff” and “Barmy EU to ban stylist’s ring & heels” are misleading and reports of a new health and safety directive are untrue.

What lies behind the “hair-raising” headlines is an own initiative by salon owners and hairdressers to help better protect the health and safety of all those working in the industry in the EU.

The draft agreement negotiated by Coiffure EU and UNI Europa builds upon existing national best practices and existing regulations in member states. Such as the current HSE guidelines (pdf) on the provision of gloves. It will mean little change for those hairdressers – salon owners and workers – who already follow the law and health and safety guidance.

Scientific evidence shows hairdressers are exposed to a high risk of occupational disease, such as muscular-skeletal disorders and skin diseases in particular. Failure to adequately …

Contrary to Paul Naish’s article in the Mail on 31 March, there is nothing in EU law that prevents the UK from checking the language skills of doctors and nurses from elsewhere in the EU. There is no “new Brussels Directive against language checks”. Instead, proposed revisions to EU rules will make even clearer that all EU-qualified health professionals can be subject to checks before they take up a post. Far from EU law “taking precedence” over the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans to reinforce such checks, the European Commission has welcomed those plans.

Mark English, Head of Media
European Commission Representation in the UK

This letter was published, slightly edited, in the Daily Mail on 5 April (p.83). The newspaper did not contact the European Commission before publication. Commissioner Michel Barnier had already exploded this Euromyth in January.

“Europe” is not considering extending the Solvency II rules for the insurance industry to pension funds in a way that would force the closure of final salary pension schemes.

Articles (14 Feb) in the Daily Express, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent paint an incomplete and sometimes misleading picture

There is a current review of the rules applying to pension funds. But the Commission will not put forward proposals for some months yet.

Those proposals will definitely not “cut and paste” Solvency II provisions into pension rules. They will be based on detailed impact assessments and will be designed to make pensions safer – so that people do not contribute for many years and then lose out – without undermining the supply of occupational pension provision.

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier has made a comprehensive public statement (10 Feb) on these issues, regrettably not referred to in any of the articles. It is …

Children to be banned from blowing up balloons, under EU safety rules (Daily Telegraph, 9th October 2011)

Brussels bans toys: Party blowers and other stocking fillers are barred in EU safety edict (Daily Mail, 10th October 2011)

Now Euro killjoys ban children’s party toys (Daily Express, 10th October 2011)
 

Several newspapers have claimed that “Brussels” has imposed new rules on the UK banning children from blowing up balloons or using party whistles. This is wholly untrue.

EU legislation on toy safety aims to protect young children from death and injury and reflects expert medical advice – and simple common sense.

Balloons and other toys placed in the mouth can and do cause death and injury.

The EU rules referred to date from 1988. They state that ballons made of latex must carry a warning to parents that children under eight years should be supervised. Stronger plastic ballons do not need to carry this warning.

They also state …

Recent reports in the media claiming that rail users “are facing fare rises of 50 per cent, forced through by new regulations from Brussels” are on the wrong track.  The price of train tickets are a matter for the rail companies and national authorities.

The cited Commission white paper on transport, published in March, is a long term strategy to safeguard Europe’s transport future and ensure the sustainability of this key sector of the economy. The White Paper makes no new rules or regulations.

Transport cannot develop by relying on “business as usual”. The paper takes a global look at developments in the transport sector, at its future challenges and at the policy initiatives that would need to be considered in order to meet the challenges posed by, for instance, scarce oil, increasing congestion and reducing emissions.

Transport infrastructure across the EU has a funding gap that will need to be filled in …

Some papers are claiming that EU rules will allow the use of pets and strays in animal experiments. This is not true and below we set out why.

The origin of stray and feral animals of domestic species is unknown, which reduces their scientific value when used in procedures. In addition, they are not familiar with a laboratory environment, inducing unnecessary distress and suffering. Therefore, for scientific, animal welfare and ethical reasons they should not be used in scientific procedures. In line with that, Directive 2010/63/EU contains a prohibition on the use of stray and feral animals in procedures.

However, in some very exceptional cases, such as when investigating an affliction which is particular only to stray animals (e.g. a disease affecting stray animals only and is transmittable to humans in contact with them), it may be necessary to use them in a limited research study. However, as can be seen …

The new EU telecoms rules are not targeting cookies in bulk – there are exemptions for cookies needed for the core service that the user has explicitly requested (e.g. shopping baskets, language preference etc). True, we have set the bar higher for cookies linked to parts of the online experience that are not directly related to the provided service itself, but are used for collecting information for other purposes (such as advertising). Even in such cases it is clear that consent can be obtained in bulk, i.e. in one go for different uses and longer time periods.

The rules apply not just to web browser cookies, but to all kinds of information stored or accessed on user terminals including computers and smart phones. So they forbid spyware and other malicious attacks on the users’ privacy.

Comments made by UK officials “that a total ban on wild animals in circuses might well be seen as disproportionate under the EU Services Directive ……” are interesting. The EU rules ensure services can be easily provided across borders. But there are of course valid reasons for exceptions to the rules and restrictions are allowed.

The Commission can never say in advance whether a law will be OK or not. Of course, Commission officials are standing ready to discuss the matter with the UK government.

Dear Sirs,

We are as surprised as your readers to hear that your newspaper believes the EU wishes to merge Britain and France. The suggestion that the “EU wants to merge UK with France”, 2nd May, is absurd, and of course, untrue.

There is no proposal to create a new cross-channel region. What exist (and have done for 10 years) are a number of cross-border programmes aimed at things like boosting jobs and looking after the environment.

Yours faithfully

Johannes Hahn,
Commissioner for Regional Policy

A similar clarification was also sent to the Daily Star for their article “EU makes us French” which was also published on 2 May 2011.

Contrary to comments made by a government Minister today, the European Commission is not considering an EU level ban on cars in city centres by 2050. Cities are of course best placed to decide their own transport mix.

Today’s Transport White Paper acknowledges that many European cities are struggling with the challenges of congestion, noise pollution, traffic jams and so on. Something needs to be done and phasing out conventional combustion engines is a realistic objective. The role of the European level is to help the shift to alternative forms of transport take place, and make them more attractive to users.

No one city or even country can act alone to bring on stream the technologies needed to tackle the challenges of transport in Europe’s cities. That is where action at European level can help. But a blanket ban on conventional cars is not on the table.