Heres a question for you. Iv recently been on holiday in Spain with some friends, one of the days we were all pondering on what activities we should do. One friend suggested hiring a speed boat to which we thought wouldn't be available due to Health and Safety laws. This particular guy seemed to think that, that was a load of rubbish 'as its Spain' and they have no Health and Safety. I argued that Spain although HASAWA doesn't apply, it still comes under European law so therefore a duty of care is still owed. (How I wished now that id took in European law during my diploma) Can anyone settle this argument and clarify Health and Safety law around other parts of Europe. Oh and we couldn't find anywhere that hired out a speed boat.

My understanding is that the EU Directives apply to all member states. But the actual level of commitment varies vastly from one country to the next.

All member states are required to adopt, regulations, directives, decisions and recommendations from the European Union. EU law has supremacy over all national laws and is binding. Regulations made by the EU are to be enacted as said, directives are required to be adapted within the member states “home laws” but achieve the standard required. Any member state is supposed to comply with in order to make the system standard within the union. However, as stated by xRockape the actual level of commitment varies vastly from one country to the next. Therefore, to answer the question yes they do have health and safety laws.