EU Superstate Now Issues Warnings About 'High Mountains'

In the event that European mountain climbers are unaware that mountains tend to tower above the landscape, the all-wise Eurocrats are issuing safety regulations that could require warning signs alerting climbers that - get ready - mountains are high.

Says European Parliament member Jonathan Evans, "This is madness."

Evans, an opponent of the legislation that would mandate such absurdities, told BBC: "If this legislation is implemented as it currently stands, then activity centers will be legally compelled to post signs to tell people they are up high. This is madness - most people know that when they climb a mountain they will be up high."

He's not the only one to view the regulations with alarm.

Scotland's Braemar Mountain Rescue team claims that European rules on working at heights could make their jobs impossible.

At issue are the EU "working at height regulations" (WAHR) due to be implemented in July.

They are intended to address one of the most common causes of injury and death at work - falling from elevated workplaces such as the upper floors of buildings under construction.

In addition to the display of safety warnings, the rules mandate a range of working practices involving backup systems.

However, representatives of the European Commission have denied that the requirement on warning signs will apply to mountaineering.

The regulations, they explain, are intended to apply to building sites, not mountains.

A Commission spokesman in Britain told the BBC: "It is pretty silly to suggest that warning signs would have to be placed on mountains. There is no suggestion in the EU legislation that this would be required."

But as is the case of bureaucratic one-size-fits-all regulations, unintended consequences are the rule rather than the exception, and it isn't hard to imagine an eager-beaver safety inspector citing a mountain rescue team for failure to warn their people that mountains are high.

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