Aiming to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace, the European Union will apply strict new rules to increase protection of workers from unwanted sexual conduct by theircolleagues.In a deal reached late on Wednesday, EU governments agreed on a common legal standard to deal with sexual harassment across the 15-nation union. "The general level of awareness of sexual harassment in member states is very poor," said EU Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou. "Now sexual harassment, absent from most national laws, will finally have a name in European law."The EU-wide legislation defines sexual harassment as "unwanted conduct related to sex with the effect of affecting the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or disturbing environment." It also forces employers to take "preventive measures againstall forms of discrimination" and provide regular reports on the issue to all staff. The legislation also removes any limit to possible compensation if a worker claims damages due to harassment.The European Commission estimates between 40 and 50 per cent of women within the EU have received "unwanted sexual proposals" at some point at work. An EU study found that sexual harassment was common in all countries. "However, it seems that, save in France and Italy, much less importance is attached to the issue in southern countries and the level of awareness is not very high," it said.