The Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC) started to meet in an informal way in 1982 to assist the European Commission in monitoring the enforcement of EU legislation at the national level. In 1995, Commission Decision 95/319/EC, which was amended in 2008 (2008/823/EC), gave the Committee a formal status.

SLIC has the mandate to give its opinion on all matters relating to the enforcement by the Member States of EU legislation on health and safety at work. This can be either at the Commission’s request or on SLIC’s own initiative.

The principal activities of SLIC are to:

• Define common principles of labour inspection in the field of health and safety at work and developing methods of assessing the national systems of inspection in relation to those principles
• Promote improved knowledge and mutual understanding of the different national systems and practices of labour inspection, the methods and legal frameworks for action
• Develop exchanges of information between national labour inspection services about their experiences in monitoring the enforcement of secondary Community law on health and safety at work
• Promote a labour inspector exchange programme between national administrations and the setting up of inspector training programmes
• Develop a reliable and efficient system of rapid information exchange between labour inspectorates about health and safety issues
• Establish active cooperation with labour inspectorates in third countries to promote better understanding and to assist in resolving any cross-border problems
• Study the possible impact of other Community policies on labour inspection activities relating to health and safety at work and working conditions.

Structure and Members

SLIC consists of representatives of the labour inspection services of the Member States. It is composed of one full member per Member State and one alternate member is appointed for each full member. Commission Decision C/2019/1168 provides the latest overview of appointed full members and alternate members of the SLIC.

SLIC’s activities are organised by a Bureau, consisting of the chairman and two vice-chairmen and is chaired by a representative of the Commission.

Working groups are set up with specific terms of reference, and its members must possess the appropriate expertise. 

Operation and Meetings

The functioning of SLIC, including the organisation of Committee meetings, its decision-making procedures, internal organisation, annual reporting and other practical arrangements are described in the SLIC Rules of Procedure.

SLIC reports on its tasks and activities in annual activity reports, prepared by the Bureau and discussed and adopted by the Committee.

SLIC plenary meetings are held every six months in the EU Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU. During these meetings, SLIC opinions are being endorsed.

Documents  

For access to the official SLIC documents see the SLIC document library.

Click on the links below to access specific documents directly:

• Adopted resolutions and opinions
• SLIC Thematic days