Working Time Directive

In March 2010 the European Commission started a revision of the Working Time Directive with the First-phase Consultation of the social partners at EU level.
This directive establishes safety and health requirements for the organizations of working time.
It regards daily rest, weekly rest and annual leave, to breaks and maximum weekly working time; and certain aspects of night work, shift work and patterns of work.
The Commission will then decide whether EU action is advisable, and if this will be the case, it will launch a second-phase consultation of the social partners at EU level. That phase will cover the content of any proposal for action, in accordance with Article 154(3) TFEU.
In parallel with these consultations, the Commission is proposing to carry out an impact assessment, including an examination of the legal application of the Directive in the Member States and a study of the social and economic aspects that are pertinent for a comprehensive review of the Directive.
Next steps

In the first phase of consultation of the social partners at EU level, the Commission is looking for social partners’ views on whether action is needed at European Union level on the Working Time Directive, and on the scope of such an initiative.

Update 03 March 2011

The Commission examined the views expressed during this first phase and launched the second stage consultation paper in December 2010.
It also presented a detailed Report COM (2010) 802 on the legal implementation of the Working Time Directive in Member States.
The second stage consultation paper asks social partners for their views on two alternative approaches based on either a narrower or a broader scope for the review. It seeks opinions on detailed options that cover key themes such as:
-    on-call time
-    timing of minimum rest periods
-    tackling excessive working hours
-    better reconciliation of work and family life and
-    clarifying areas whether the law appears unclear.

Next steps:

The Commission will take into account the results of this consultation for its further work on reviewing the Directive. In particular, it may suspend such work if the social partners decide to negotiate between themselves on matters with a sufficiently wide scope. Otherwise, it will proceed to adopt an amending legislative proposal, supported by a detailed impact assessment considering economic and social aspects, which will be published simultaneously.

Update 18 July 2011

As part of its review of the EU working time Directive, the Commission has launched the mandatory second stage of consultation with workers' and employers' representatives at EU level.

The second stage consultation paper asks social partners for their views on two alternative approaches based on either a narrower or a broader scope for the review. It seeks opinions on detailed options that cover key themes such as:

• on-call time
• timing of minimum rest periods
• tackling excessive working hours
• better reconciliation of work and family life and
• clarifying areas whether the law appears unclear.

A wide consensus emerged from the replies of the EU-level workers' and employers' representatives to the first stage consultation: changes to the current working time rules are urgently needed.

At the same time, the Commission has presented a detailed Report on the implementation of the current Directive in the Member States. It sets out the current state-of-play, identifying the main areas of non-compliance or of legal uncertainty in the various countries.

Next steps

Key social partners anticipate to send a letter to the Commission to indicate start of dialogue

Nine months after letter received by the Commission: EU executive must act and either issue draft amendments to the directive, or offer social partners an extension of time if talks have failed to deliver