to the conditions and technical rules obtaining in each of the Member States." The second part of this paragraph goes on to say that "[s]uch directives shall avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings."
The third paragraph states that "the provisions adopted pursuant to this Article shall not prevent any Member State from maintaining or introducing more stringent measures for the protection of working conditions compatible with this Treaty."
Article 118a addressed the long-standing European Community concern over health and safety in the workplace. The EEC Treaty had contained the general provisions of Articles 117 and 118; the first social action programme, enacted in 1974, stressed workplace health and safety as a priority area for action, and specific legislative action began in 1978, when specific health and safety programmes were formulated. These actions reflected the growing global concern over workplace health and safety in the 1970s.
Article 118a provides for an accelerated process through which workplace health and safety legislation can be enacted by the Council. It allows for qualified majority voting by the Council so that quick action may be taken. In contrast, unanimity was previously required in Council votes to pass Community social legislation, allowing for a single Member State to obstruct a measure agreed upon by all of the other Member States. Under Article 118a, a majority vote only is required to pass a measure; this majority is qualified, or weighted, according to the size of the Member States. This qualified majority vote has been successfully used to pass legislation enacting the strategy established by the specific health and safety action programme which followed the Single European Act, as well as the strategy set forth in the Social Charter Action programme.
This ...