Brussels, 16/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 October, the European Commission adopted a proposal to amend Directive 2002/15/EC on working time for drivers (EUROPE 8116). The new proposal aims to ensure that the existing working time rules apply to all employed professional drivers, including “false self-employed workers”, officially self-employed but in practice cannot organise working time themselves. In effect, the latter are covered by the same protection and inspection regime as transport industry contract workers. The Commission is also proposing to enhance cooperation between member states in view of setting up an information exchange system between their authorities responsible for this matter, as well as an exchange of best practice in this area. The Commission also clarified the definition of night working. According to the new proposal, this definition would apply to each period of at least two hours during the night. "It is essential that all drivers dependent upon a single employer enjoy the same level of social protection", said Antonio Tajani, Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, adding that “Europe cannot tolerate risks to road safety, unfair competition and circumvention of social protection arising where employers require their workers to declare themselves to be self-employed".
Adopted in 2002, the current directive provides a definition of working time and sets the working week at an average of 48 hours during a four month reference period, with a maximum working week of 60 hours (as opposed to the previous 70). Night workers cannot work longer than 10 hours a day. Self-employed workers are not included in this proposal. (A.By./transl.rh)