The European Parliament said it should be up to national governments of the 25-nation European Union to decide whether companies should be held responsible for their employees' neglecting to use suncream or wear sunglasses.

"This is a victory for common sense, it is no business of the EU to decide whether workers can wear shorts or remove their shirts whilst working outside," said Liberal Democrat lawmaker Liz Lynne.

The EU legislature voted an amendment to the draft legislation after a heated debate Tuesday, which pitted critics of the move against leftwingers who saw it as part of a campaign to fight skin cancer.

The amendment, backed by 397 in favor and 260 against, was a compromise that allows member states to decide whether to put any obligations on employers in assessing the risks from sunlight or natural radiation.

At the same time, the parliament approved other amendments regulating exposure to artificial radiation such as lasers.

Leftist lawmakers denounced the measure as "a blow to workers across Europe."

"Skin cancer is the same regardless of whether you catch it from aritificial or natural radiation," said Jean Lambert, British Green party coordinator of the employment committee.

"People have called for 'light touch' legislation in the EU, and to a great extent we agree -- laws should be proportionate. But the touch cannot be so light that it fails to protect Europe's workers," she added.

The Strasbourg decision is not the final word: both EU governments and the EU commission have vowed to overturn the lawmakers' decision if it excluded sunlight or handed responsibilty back to the member states.

The directive must now be referred to a conciliation procedure where the three institutions will try to find a compromise.

"It is the role of the commission to ensure the highest protection of workers," said Vladimir Spidla, EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities.

But critics of the move also pledged to stand firm, saying that if left unamended the EU law would impose a huge burden on small businesses.

"A sensible directive ... could have been ruined by the ludicrous proposal to introduce legislation requiring employers to conduct exposure risks of employees from the sun which varies hugely from country to country and person to person and is thus impossible to regulate from an EU level," said Lynne.

"I support promoting awareness to everyone on the risks of UV radiation but it is wrong to place the burden for this on employers many of whom are small and medium sized enterprises already struggling to remain competitive."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.`

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