Europe�s weapon of WTD

The Working Time Directive - for mobile workers in the transport industry - which will limit the working week to 48-hours is set to come into force across Europe on March 23. John Loughran reports on Ireland�s state of readiness.

Officials at the Department of Transport are burning the midnight oil ahead of the deadline for the introduction of the Working Time Directive for mobile workers in the transport industry.
Issues surrounding the transposition of the directive into Irish law have yet to be resolved by the Department, which means the necessary regulations won’t be in place by March 23.

However, the respite for hauliers will be brief. “The Department is working towards getting the directive transposed into national law as close to the March 23 deadline as possible,” a spokesman commented.
An Irish Trucker straw poll suggests that most national transport operators are oblivious to the pending regulations, which could have a profound impact on how they run their companies. However, international hauliers appear to be more au fait with the imminent regulations

The directive covers only mobile workers employed by transport companies established in a Member State participating in mobile road-transport activities covered by 3820/85 or failing that by the AETR agreement. This means it does not cover other mobile workers such as drivers of light vans, 'employed' taxi drivers, couriers, etc.
Interestingly “owner operators” are not covered under the directive. “Self-employed drivers are being temporarily excluded from the WT Directive 2002/15,” the spokesman commented.

He added: “It is intended that self-employed drivers will be included within the scope of the Directive from 23 March 2009.”
However, self employed drivers will continue to be covered by the drivers’ hours rules set out in Regulation 3820/85, which lays down common rules on driving times and rest periods for drivers.

By 2007 the Commission is required to present a report to the European Parliament and the Council. The report will analyse the consequences of the exclusion of self-employed drivers from the scope of the Directive in respect of road safety, conditions of competition, the structure of the profession as well as social aspects.
Those transport operators who are aware of the Working Time Directive have argued that it is unnecessary because, truck drivers are already regulated by drivers’ hours regulations.

However, the scope of the Directive is much broader. “Regulation 3820/85 lays down common rules on driving times and rest periods for drivers but it does not cover other aspects of working time for road transport mobile workers e.g. time spent loading / unloading - therefore Directive 2002/15 is broader in scope,” the spokesman confirmed.

But what constitutes working time? “The time from the beginning to the end of work, during which the mobile worker is at his workstation, at the disposal of the employer and exercising his functions or activities,” he confirmed.

It includes driving, loading and unloading, assisting passengers boarding / disembarking from vehicle; cleaning, technical maintenance and ensuring safety of vehicle, cargo and passengers.
Somewhat controversially it also includes the time a worker is required to remain at his station, ready to take up work and cannot dispose freely of his time, in particular during periods awaiting loading and unloading.

There are certain times, which are not classified as working time. These include periods during which the mobile worker is accompanying a vehicle being transported by ferry or train as well as periods of waiting at frontiers and those due to traffic prohibitions.
The spokesman elaborated: “In order to qualify as a period of availability, the waiting period and the foreseeable duration must be known in advance either before departure or just before the start of the period in question.”

He added: “It will be important, therefore, that drivers are made aware of such periods that can be determined in advance and that appropriate records of such periods are maintained.”
The average weekly working time may not exceed 48 hours, but it may be extended to 60 hours if, over a four month period, an average of 48 hours a week is not exceeded.

Workers cannot work more than six consecutive hours without a break, according to the Directive. “Working time must be interrupted by a break of at least 30 minutes, if working between six and nine hours, or at least 45 minutes if working more than 9 hours. Breaks may be subdivided into periods of at least 15 minutes each,” the Department official explained.

Where night time work is performed the worker will only be able to work 10 hours in any given 24-hour period. Under national law, night time is a period of four hours between midnight and 7.00pm.
The official warned: “This means that even if a mobile worker does only five minutes work during this ‘night time’ period, he will be subject to a 10-hour working time limit.”

There is certain scope within the Directive for national governments to amend the regulations to suit their own individual circumstances. In that respect the Department of Transport is working to maximise the affect of these so-called derogations.

“We will be trying to make as much use of the flexibilities that are in the Directive in order to keep us on a par with the UK approach to the Directive,” the spokesman noted.
To that end the Department of Transport is looking at the possibility of calculating the 48-hour week over a six-month period, rather than the four-month time span specified in the Directive.

Member States can decide to have longer reference periods up to six months. “This means the 48-hour working week would be averaged out over a longer period and would give the operator a bit more flexibility,” he remarked.

Similarly, there is also a possibility of derogating from the night time restrictions. “At the moment night work is a period of four hours between midnight and 7.00am. In the UK, they are going to deem night time as the period between midnight and 4.00am for hauliers. We are looking at following suit,” he noted.

While the Working Time Directive may not come on stream in Ireland on March 23, it will be up and running in the very near future. The next few months could be interesting times for the haulage industry. Watch this space.