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COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2005/47/EC

of 18 July 2005

on the Agreement between the Community of European Railways (CER) and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) on certain aspects of the working conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services in the railway sector

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 139(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

The purpose of this Directive is to implement the Agreement concluded on 27 January 2004 between the Community of European Railways (CER) and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) on certain aspects of the working conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services.

The text of the Agreement is annexed to this Directive.

Article 2

1.   Member States may maintain or introduce more favourable provisions than those laid down by this Directive.

2.   The implementation of this Directive shall under no circumstances constitute sufficient grounds for justifying a reduction in the general level of protection of workers in the fields covered by this Directive. This shall be without prejudice to the rights of Member States and/or management and labour to lay down, in the light of changing circumstances, different legislative, regulatory or contractual arrangements to those prevailing at the time of the adoption of this Directive, provided always that the minimum requirements laid down in this Directive are complied with.

Article 3

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Agreement on the follow-up and evaluation by the signatories, the Commission shall, after consulting management and labour at European level, report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of this Directive in the context of the development of the railways sector, before 27 July 2011.

Article 4

Member States shall determine what penalties are applicable when national provisions enacted pursuant to this Directive are infringed and shall take all necessary measures to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify these provisions to the Commission by 27 July 2008 and any subsequent amendments thereto in good time.

Article 5

Member States shall, after consultation with the social partners, bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 27 July 2008 or shall ensure that the social partners have adopted the necessary provisions by means of an Agreement by that date. They shall immediately forward the text of the provisions to the Commission.

Member States shall take all necessary measures to enable them to guarantee at any time the outcome required by this Directive and shall inform the Commission thereof immediately.

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

Article 6

This Directive shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 7

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 18 July 2005.

For the Council

The President

M. BECKETT

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(1)OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18. Directive as amended by Directive 2000/34/EC.

(2)OJ L 195, 1.8.2000, p. 41.

(3)OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9.

(4)OJ C 321, 31.12.2003, p. 1.

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AGREEMENT

concluded by the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) and the Community of European Railways (CER) on certain aspects of the working conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services

HAVING REGARD TO:

THE SIGNATORIES HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Clause 1

Scope

This Agreement shall apply to mobile railway workers assigned to interoperable cross-border services carried out by railway undertakings.

The application of this Agreement is optional for local and regional cross-border passenger traffic, cross-border freight traffic travelling no further than 15 kilometres beyond the border, and for traffic between the official border stations listed in the Annex.

It is also optional for trains on cross-border routes which both start and stop on the infrastructure of the same Member State and use the infrastructure of another Member State without stopping there (and which can therefore be considered national transport operations).

As regards mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services, Directive 93/104/EC shall not apply to those aspects for which this Agreement contains more specific provisions.

Clause 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:

Clause 3

Daily rest at home

Daily rest at home must be a minimum of 12 consecutive hours per 24-hour period.

However, it may be reduced to a minimum of nine hours once every seven-day period. In that case, the hours corresponding to the difference between the reduced rest and 12 hours will be added to the next daily rest at home.

A significantly reduced daily rest shall not be scheduled between two daily rests away from home.

Clause 4

Daily rest away from home

The minimum daily rest away from home shall be eight consecutive hours per 24-hour period.

A daily rest away from home must be followed by a daily rest at home (1).

It is recommended that attention should be paid to the level of comfort of the accommodation offered to staff resting away from home.

Clause 5

Breaks

(a)   Drivers

If the working time of a driver is longer than eight hours, a break of at least 45 minutes shall be taken during the working day.

Or

When the working time is between six and eight hours, this break shall be at least 30 minutes long and shall be taken during the working day.

The time of day and the duration of the break shall be sufficient to ensure an effective recuperation of the worker.

Breaks may be adapted during the working day in the event of train delays.

A part of the break should be given between the third and the sixth working hour.

Clause 5(a) shall not apply if there is a second driver. In that case, the conditions for granting the breaks shall be regulated at national level.

(b)   Other on-board staff

For other on-board staff, a break of at least 30 minutes shall be taken if the working time is longer than six hours.

Clause 6

Weekly rest period

Any mobile worker engaged in interoperable cross-border services is entitled, per seven-day period, to a minimum uninterrupted weekly rest period of 24 hours plus the 12 hours' daily rest period referred to in Clause 3 above.

Each year, every mobile worker shall have 104 rest periods of 24 hours, including the 24-hour periods of the 52 weekly rest periods,

including:

Clause 7

Driving time

The driving time, as defined in Clause 2, shall not exceed nine hours for a day shift and eight hours for a night shift between two daily rest periods.

The maximum driving time over a two-week period is limited to 80 hours.

Clause 8

Checks

A record of daily working hours and rest periods for the mobile workers shall be kept to allow monitoring of compliance with the provisions of this Agreement. Information on actual working hours must be available. This record shall be kept in the undertaking for at least one year.

Clause 9

Non-regression clause

The implementation of this Agreement shall not constitute in any case valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection afforded to mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services.

Clause 10

Follow-up to the Agreement

The signatories shall follow up the implementation and application of this Agreement in the framework of the Sectoral Dialogue Committee for the railways sector, established in accordance with Commission Decision 98/500/EC.

Clause 11

Evaluation

The parties shall evaluate the provisions of this Agreement two years after its signing in the light of initial experience in the development of interoperable cross-border transport.

Clause 12

Review

The parties shall review the above provisions two years after the end of the implementation period laid down in the Council Decision putting this Agreement into effect.

Brussels, 27 January 2004.

On behalf of the CER

Giancarlo CIMOLI

President

Johannes LUDEWIG

Executive Director

Francesco FORLENZA

Chairman of the Group of Human Resources Directors

Jean-Paul PREUMONT

Social Affairs Adviser

On behalf of the ETF

Norbert HANSEN

Chairman of the Railway Section

Jean-Louis BRASSEUR

Vice-Chairman of the Railway Section

Doro ZINKE

General Secretary

Sabine TRIER

Political Secretary

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(1)  The parties agree that negotiations on a second consecutive rest away from home as well as compensation for rest away from home could take place between the social partners at railway undertaking or national level as appropriate. At European level, the question of the number of consecutive rests away from home as well as compensation for the rest away from home will be renegotiated two years after signature of this Agreement.

ANNEX

List of the official border stations located beyond the 15 km limit and for which the agreement is optional

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