Luxembourg, 05/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - Doctors providing primary health care must benefit from the provisions of the directive on working hours. This was the Court of Justice's response to a question raised by the "Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Comunidad Valenciana" (Spain) relating to the interpretation of Community law concerning the promotion of improved worker health and safety and certain aspects of adjustment of working hours.
This ruling followed questioning by the Simap (trade union for public assistance doctors in the Valence region) who pointed out that, in reality, these doctors had to work unlimited hours and without the daily duration of work being subject to daily, weekly, monthly or annual limits. Simpa had initiated proceedings at the national tribunal against the Minister for Health of the region of Valence.
In his answer to the Spanish Tribunal, the Court: 1) noted that the said rules apply to the activities of primary care doctors, 2) examine the call time undertaken by doctors in hospitals or medical centres must be considered, in the eyes of EC law, as "working time", that the doctors are effectively present in the health establishments or simply reachable. For the Court, we find characteristics of the notion of working time when the doctors are present in the establishment in which they physically carry out their shift. On the other hand when they are simply accessible in permanence, the Court feels that they can manage their time with less constraints: only the time truly used in primary care would be considered as working time; 3) feels that the work carried out by the primary care medical teams during their shift constitutes work posted in under EC law, 4) considers that the agreement of the individuals concerned by possible derogations to certain aspects of the EC regulation on working time is necessary, and that a collective agreement cannot replace such an agreement.
For Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, this "ruling will be a date in the history of social policy. It is of great importance because it clarifies Community law, which goes in the direction of better protection for workers, in this case doctors, at an EC level as well as guarantee a better service for citizens. It is good that the Court has explicitly said that in the absence of national provision transposing a European Directive, this would apply immediately".