ECJ rules on the protection of workers from exposure to carcinogens

The European Court of Justice has stated that Austria failed to protect workers by not adopting the necessary legislation to fully implement the Council Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens at work and extending it to mutagens (1999/38/EC).


The action was brought before the Court by the European Commission. The Austrian government argued that the Directive had been transposed into national law at federal level within the time limit prescribed.

However, since the Directive had not been transposed by all of the Länder, the Court found that the measures required to ensure the transposition of the of the Directive into national law had not been adopted.

- ECJ Judgment (in French and German)

- Related EPHA section on the ECJ

- More than 2 million employees are exposed to carcinogenic chemicals in France

Last modified on December 18 2005.