Brussels, 04/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EP/Council Conciliation Committee, co-chaired by EP Vice-President James Provan (British Conservative) and Portuguese Secretary of State for Labour and Training Paolo Pedroso reached an agreement late Monday evening on extending the scope of the directive on adjustment of working hours (93/104/EEC) to workers in all the sectors and activities currently excluded from the directive, especially doctors in training and seafarers.
For trainee doctors, discussions covered the transitional period so that the 48-hour working week be applied to them as required by the general directive, with a view to protecting the health of the doctors themselves and also that of their patients. The representatives of the two institutions came to an agreement on a transitional five-year period (the Council had proposed 13 years, the Commission 7 and the EP 4; see EUROPE of 26 February, pp.14-15). The Member States have, however, the possibility of extending this time limit to take into account the specific difficulties linked to their position in the organisation and the management of health services and medical care. Prolongation may be authorised twice, it may be for two years and last one year, which brings the transitional period to a maximum of 8 years. These two extensions must, however, fulfil certain specific conditions: 1) the request for extension must be notified by the Member State to the Commission six months in advance; 2) the Commission must give its opinion after consultation with the social partners concerned; 3) the Member Sate must state the reasons for prolongation; 4) the decision must be published in the Official Journal.
In addition, during the transitional period and in order to facilitate the necessary adjustments, the Member States must endeavour to reduce the working hours of doctors, in stages (some States, like Ireland, the United Kingdom and Spain, have very high weekly working hours), that is: 1) ceiling of 58 hours work per week (instead of 60 hours as required in the directive) for the first adjustment period lasting three years; 2) then, for the next two years, reduction to 56 hours; 3) for the rest of the period to be covered (that is, the prolongation periods), reduction to 52 hours/week. This is in order to eventually come into line with the general rule of a 48 hour working week.
As far as people working at sea are concerned, discussions covered the very controversial issues of maximum working hours and minimum rest periods (see EUROPE of 20 November 1998). The delegations present agreed on the fact that the Member States may choose: 1) either a minimum rest period not exceeding 10 hours for every 24 hours, or 70 hours over a 7-day period; 2) or a maximum number of working hours not exceeding 14 hours for every 24-hour period, or 72 hours for a 7-day period or 48 hours out of 7 days but spread out over a one-year period. These rules aim at guaranteeing the protection of the health and safety of workers at their place of work while allowing a certain amount of flexibility (once at sea, seafarers have longer working periods but are on leave as soon as they return to port). All this also benefits from the protection of international rules (ILO).
Procedures to be accomplished before directive can take effect -
Ms Diamantopoulou stresses advantages
The European Parliament and the Council each have, at present, six weeks (with a possible 2 month extension) in which to definitively adopt the directive (by absolute majority of votes for the EP, by qualified majority for the Council). It will thus become a European law. The Member States will have three years in which to transpose all the provisions of the directive into their national legislation, except concerning the doctors in training where they will have four years.
Welcoming this agreement which "ensures protection to some 5 million workers", Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou stressed the effort of "patience and persistence on the part of the Commission for finding a practical solution". On the prickly question of doctors in training, the Commissioner admitted that "the transitional period which is applied to them is longer than I would have liked", but stressed that "once the directive is in application in the Member States, the provisions concerning daily and weekly rest periods and breaks, annual leave and night work will be immediately applicable to trainee doctors. There will also be a limit to the number of working hours, which is not the case at present".