Council and Parliament reach conciliation agreement on working time Directive extension

A text extending the EU working time Directive to previously excluded sectors and activities was agreed on 3 April 2000 by the Conciliation Committee set up to find a compromise between the positions of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. This is the first major social policy issue to be decided using this procedure.

TheEuropean Commission first issued a package of four proposals designed to extend the 1993 working time Directive to a range of previously excluded sectors and activities in November 1998 (EU9901144F). These were:

• a proposed "horizontal" Directive aiming to extend the working time Directive to cover non-mobile workers in excluded sectors and to doctors in training, in addition to providing basic protection for mobile workers and those engaged in other work at sea;

• a proposed Directive concerning the organisation of working time for mobile workers in the road transport sector and self-employed drivers;

• a proposed Directive implementing the social partners' agreement on working time in the maritime industry (EU9802182F); and

• a proposed Directive concerning seafarers' hours of work on board ships using Community ports;

The two latter Directives – on the implementation of the maritime sector social partner agreement and the organisation of working time for seafarers on board ships using Community ports – were adopted relatively swiftly, on 21 June 1999 (EU9906178F) and 13 December 1999 respectively. However, the proposals relating to mobile workers in the road transport industry and to the more widespread "horizontal" extension of provisions remained outstanding.

While proposals covering the road transport industry are currently stalled in theCouncil of Ministers (EU9910203F), the text covering the horizontal extension of the Directive reached the second reading stage at the European Parliament (EP) in November 1999, following the adoption of a common position in Council (EU9906178F). However, at its second reading, the EP made a number of amendments to the text which the Council subsequently found that it could not accept. Therefore, under the co-decision procedure, provided for by Article 251 of the European Community Treaty (TEC), a Conciliation Committee was convened in order to try to find a solution to this stalemate.

The Committee was convened in February 2000, and chaired by the MEP James Provan (EPP/ED, UK) and the Portuguese State Secretary for Labour and Training, Paulo Pedroso. At its second meeting, on 3 April 2000, the Committee concluded an agreed text extending the working time Directive to previously excluded sectors.

The most controversial issue in the negotiations was the working time of doctors in training. The Conciliation Committee has agreed that, following a four-year implementation period, working time for doctors in training will decrease to an average of 48 hours a week over a transition period of five years. During the first three years of this transition period, average weekly working hours must not exceed 58, falling to 56 during the subsequent two years. However, the Conciliation Committee acknowledged the fact that for some Member States this transition period may be rather short, and has thus agreed that, in exceptional circumstances, Member States may "under a stringent procedure" apply for an extension of up to two years. Further, "in the case of special difficulties" linked to their responsibilities for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care, Member States may apply for a further extension of one year. Such extensions "would be subject to a rigorous notification and justification procedure". Average weekly working time should not exceed 52 hours during this extension period.

Thus, Member States will be obliged to introduce a 48-hour working week for junior doctors after a period of nine years from the adoption of this Directive (although extra time may be granted in the case of some Member States – see above).

The text also extends some protection to mobile workers in air, road and inland waterway transport, such as the right to adequate rest, to four weeks of annual leave and working time limits.

Specific working time provisions will apply to workers in the sea fishing industry. Member States may choose to implement one of the following regulations, either that:

• working time must not exceed 14 hours in any 24-hour period or 72 hours in a seven-day period; or

• minimum rest periods must be 10 hours in each 24-hour period or 70 hours over a seven-day period.

The EP and the Council have six weeks from the conclusion of the agreed text (this may be extended to two months) in which to adopt the Directive. Member States will then have three years in which to transpose the provisions of this Directive into national legislation, with the exception of the provisions relating to working time for junior doctors, which are subject to an implementation date of four years.

The Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, stated that this accord will "ensure protection to some 5 million workers". While noting that the transition period to the 48-hour week for doctors in training was longer than she would have liked, she 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."