This reform was completely in line with the recommendations
of the ‘Molitor group’, installed in 1994 by
the European Commission, which pleaded for an extensive
programme of action, which should result in the
simplification of community and national regulations,
a decrease in administrative expenditure for trade and
industry and strengthening of the competitive position
of businesses within theEU[1,2]. Actually The Netherlands
was the first EU country that carried out a reform
in the field of safety and health so consistently according
to the Molitor recommendations. During the Dutch
presidency of the EU in 1997, the Dutch government
organized an international conference to promulgate
the importance of cost effectiveness analysis in this
field [3].
The reform