Brussels, 21/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 December, the European Commission opened the second phase of consultation with the European social partners (workers' and employers' representatives) on the working time directive (2003/88/EC). The new consultation document asks the social partners for their views on two alternative options, one narrowing and the other broadening the scope of the review. It seeks their opinions on key issues such as: on-call time and timing of minimum rest periods (the two issues with which member states have most difficulty implementing), tackling excessive working hours, better balancing of work and family life and clarifying areas where the law appears unclear.
The second phase of consultation also asks employers' and workers' representatives if they are willing to negotiate among themselves. The social partners will have until the end of February 2011 to inform the Commission of their stances on the different options for amending the working time directive. The Commission will use their responses to help draft a legislative proposal which could be adopted once an impact assessment on the proposed changes has been carried out - this is planned for the third quarter of next year. The legislative proposal would then need to be considered and agreed by the Council and the Parliament.
Two fresh points were also presented on Tuesday: (1) a report on the main findings of the first phase of consultation, which began on 24 March (see EUROPE 10105), and on the economic and social impact of working time rules and of research on relevant changes in working patterns; (2) a detailed report on the implementation of the current directive in the member states. The Commission sets out the current state-of-play, identifying the main areas of non-compliance or of legal uncertainty in the various countries.
Answering journalists' questions, Cristina Arigho, spokeswoman for László Andor said that: - the first phase of consultation had revealed broad consensus on the urgent need for changes to be brought to the current working time rules; - in the healthcare sector, independent studies have shown the damaging effect that working too long hours has on health. In those countries where working hours are not excessive, productivity is much higher. (G.B./transl.rt)