In a document dated 18 September about which EUROPE has obtained information, the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union suggested clarifications and precisions regarding the practical implications of the rules on posted workers in the transport field.
These suggestions are a direct echo to the European Commission proposals presented as part of the mobility package on 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799). In this document, the Commission proposes that the rules on posted workers apply retroactively as soon as the transporter has spent more than three days a month in the same country as part of international operations between companies (outside transport) from the same group working for themselves and therefore exclude transit and cabotage operations. The latter are the subject of another proposal.
Firstly, the Presidency refers to the distinction between international operations between companies of the same group and those of different economic undertakings. On the basis of the Commission proposal, then international operation between two companies from the same group should not have to apply the rules on posted workers, even after three days of work in the member state of destination, contrary to the operation between two companies that are part of different undertakings using a haulier. Having highlighted the concerns of certain member states, the Estonian Presidency therefore suggests that the rules proposed by the European Commission apply without any distinction between the two kinds of operation.
Another point requiring clarification involves the question of transit. The Commission is therefore proposing that the rules in force remain and that the system for posted workers does not apply to a transporter that only goes through a country to another. The Estonian Presidency would like the Commission to clarify this issue, which has been the subject of debate, particularly within the S&D group at the European Parliament.
It also addresses the Commission position, according to which, an international operation, even when the contracting parties are established in the same member state, are obliged to apply the rules governing work by posted workers. It calls on the member states to give their views on the clarity of this position.
The Presidency also considers that the Commission proposals are not very clear with regard to the application of the rules on posted workers in combined transport and would like the member states to share the observations they have made on this point.
Precisions regarding mode of calculation. In an effort to determine exactly when it should be considered that a worker has accomplished an entire working day on the territory of another member state, the Commission set out in its proposal, a six-hour limit. A worker who has worked more than six hours in another member state should therefore be considered as having worked a full-time working day and under this six hour ceiling, this would be considered half a working day. The Estonian Presidency is calling on the member states to state whether they think this six-hour period includes daily rest periods or only driving periods, availability and break times.
The Presidency is calling on the Commission to explain whether the calculating period should include the times during which the vehicle is stationary on a ferry or train, as part of the combined transport framework. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)