The protection of the safety and health of pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth or workers who are breastfeeding should be guaranteed and not run counter to the principles enshrined in the Directives concerning equal treatment for men and women.

This is reflected in recital 2 of the proposed directive, which justifies the additional legal basis in the following terms: “Since this Directive addresses not only the health and safety of workers who are pregnant, or have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, but also, inherently, issues of equal treatment, such as the right to return to the same or an equivalent working place, the rules on dismissal and employment rights, or on better financial support during the leave, Article 153 and 157 are combined to form the legal base for this Directive”.

· "exposure limit values" defined in Table 1 of the Annex to the Directive on the basis of the various frequencies that are recognised as having harmful effects on the human cardiovascular system or the central nervous system or as being capable of causing whole-body heat stress or excessive localised heating of tissues;

This Directive is therefore without prejudice to Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding(9) (tenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), which aims to ensure the protection of the physical and mental state of women who are pregnant, women who have recently given birth or women who are breastfeeding.

25. Calls on the Commission to make a commitment in the forthcoming Social Policy Agenda to come forward with a proposal for revision of Directive 92/85/EEC and calls for further assessment under the forthcoming Fifth Action Programme on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men of the rights of pregnant women as defined by this Directive and Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions and for the scope of the measures to be proposed to be extended to cover fostering prior to adoption, adoption, ...[+++]and permanent foster care;

The PWD specifically requires employers to take particular account of risks to new, breastfeeding and expectant mothers when assessing risks in the work activity.