UK chemical industry voices concerns over EU employment legislation

The UK's Chemical Industries Association (CIA) has called for the European Union to support the European chemical industry - "Europe's most productive industry"- by providing "genuine employment leadership".

In a series of briefings to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), commission officials, trade unions and the office of the UK's permanent representative in Brussels, Simon Marsh, director of employment relations at the CIA appealed to the EU to pay greater attention to the impact of employment legislation on chemical businesses in the face of growing competition from companies based outside of Europe.

"It is wrong to assume that when Europe legislates it is a level playing field because it affects one market. We trade and compete globally" said Marsh. "I believe the European Union has developed sensible regulation in a variety of employment areas, including equality and involvement, but I am concerned that much of what is developed is not measured against the impact globally or on the employment relationship within Europe.'

Fears that over-excessive legislation could help to boost the already burgeoning economies of less legislative countries outside Europe have also been voiced by other UK bodies in recent months, including the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Speaking in February about a drop in UK-based r&d spend, Dr Richard Barker, director general of the ABPI, said: "In an era in which there is global competition for the industry's research base, this country [UK] must not follow the paths of so many other European nations in creating barriers to innovation, whether through over-regulation or through concentration on the price of medicines rather than their value."

Barker and the ABPI have also starkly warned the UK Government that "no company can be expected to invest in the UK if the environment here is not sufficiently welcoming".