Directive 2017/164/EU of 31 January 2017 establishing a fourth list of indicative occupational exposure limit values pursuant to Council Directive 98/24/EC, and amending Commission Directives 91/322/EEC, 2000/39/EC and 2009/161/EU is based on Council Directive 98/24/EC concerning the protection of the health and safety of workers from the risks related to chemical agents in the workplace.
Indicative occupational exposure limit values (IOELV) are health-based, non-binding values, derived from the most recent scientific data available and taking into account the availability of reliable measurement techniques. For any chemical agent for which an IOELV has been set at Union level, Member States are required to establish a national occupational exposure limit value. They also are required to take into account the Union limit value, determining the nature of the national limit value in accordance with national legislation and practice.
IOELVs are established in relation to a reference period of 8 hours (considering a time-weighted average) and referred to as long-term exposure limit values, and, for certain chemical agents, these relate to shorter reference periods, in general 15 minutes (also time-weighted averages), referred to as short-term exposure limit values, to take account of the effects arising from short-term exposure.
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The Directive establishes limit values for the following chemical agents:
| - Manganese and inorganic manganese compounds (as manganese) - Glycerol trinitrate - Carbon tetrachloride; Tetrachloromethane - Amitrole - Acetic acid - Hydrogen cyanide (as cyanide) - Methylene chloride; Dichloromethane |
- Vinylidene chloride; 1,1-Dichloroethylene - Tetraethyl orthosilicate - Acrylic acid; Prop-2-enoic acid - Nitroethane - Bisphenol A; 4,4′-Isopropylidenediphenol - Diphenyl ether - 2-ethylhexan-1-ol - 1,4-Dichlorobenzene; p-Dichlorobenzene |
- Acrolein; Acrylaldehyde; Prop-2-enal - Methyl formate - But-2-yne-1,4-diol - Tetrachloroethylene - Ethyl acetate - Sodium cyanide (as cyanide) - Potassium cyanide (as cyanide) - Diacetyl; Butanedione |
- Carbon monoxide - Calcium dihydroxide - Calcium oxide - Sulphur dioxide - Lithium hydride - Nitrogen monoxide - Nitrogen dioxide - Terphenyl, hydrogenated |
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Skin absorption feature of ten substances is noted.
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Of the 31 substances above, 4 were already listed in the Annex to Commission Directive 91/322/EEC, one was listed in the Annex to Commission Directive 2000/39/EC and one in the Annex to Commission Directive 2009/161/EU. The establishment of new indicative limit values was recommended by SCOEL for the above six substances listed in the Annex to this Directive and are deleted from the Annexes to the previous directives.
Read the full text of the Directive 2017/164/EU
National laws implementing this Directive
There are further lists on indicative occupational exposure limit values:
- Commission Directive 91/322/EEC establishing indicative limit values
- Commission Directive 2000/39/EC establishing a first list of indicative occupational exposure limit values
- Commission Directive 2006/15/EC establishing a second list of indicative occupational exposure limit values
- Commission Directive 2009/161/EU establishing a third list of indicative occupational exposure limit values
- Commission Directive 2019/1831/EU establishing a fifth list of indicative occupational exposure limit values