No C 254/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 9. 10. 90 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Directive concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time 
COM(90) 317 final — SYN 295 
(Submitted by the Commission on 3 August 1990) 
(90/C 254/05) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas Article 118a of the EEC Treaty provides that 
the Council shall adopt, by means of Directives, 
minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, 
especially in the working environment, to guarantee a 
better level of protection of the safety and health of 
workers; 
Whereas, pursuant to that Article, such Directives must 
avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal 
constraints which would hold back the creation and 
development of small and medium-sized undertakings; 
Whereas the provisions of Council Directive 
89/391 /EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of 
measures to encourage improvements in the safety and 
health of workers at work (*) are fully applicable in 
relation to the matters covered by this Directive without 
prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions 
contained herein; 
Whereas laying down minimum requirements with 
regard to individual periods of rest and of work 
improves the working conditions referred to in Article 
118a; 
Whereas the Community Charter of the Fundamental 
Social Rights of Workers states at Title I, point 7 that 
the completion of the internal market must lead to an improvement in the living and working conditions of 
workers, a process which must result from an approxi­
mation of these conditions, while maintaining the 
improvement, as regards in particular the duration and 
organization of working time; whereas point 8 states 
that every worker of the European Community shall 
have a right to a weekly rest period and to annual paid 
leave, the duration of which must be progressively 
harmonized in accordance with national practices; 
Whereas point 19 of the said Charter affirms that every 
worker must enjoy satisfactory health and safety 
conditions in his working environment and that appro­
priate measures must be taken in order to achieve further 
harmonization of conditions in this area while main­
taining the improvement made; 
Whereas the European Parliament considers it indis­
pensable in its resolution of 15 March 1989 (2) on the 
social dimension of the internal market that minimum 
rules should be adopted which establish a ceiling for 
daily and weekly working time; 
Whereas in order to achieve improvement in the health 
and safety of workers certain minimum daily and weekly 
rest periods should be complied with for all workers in 
the Community; 
Whereas this Directive is consequent upon the need to 
lay down minimum rules for certain aspects of the 
organization of working time from the point of view of 
the health and safety of the workers concerned; whereas 
these rules are without prejudice to other provisions 
which are propitious to a better state of health., such as 
annual paid leave; 
Whereas research has shown that long periods of night 
work and alternations in shift work patterns can be 
detrimental to the health of workers and can endanger 
safety at the workplace; 
(«) OJ No L 183, 29. 6. 1989, p. 1. O OJ No C 96, 17. 4. 1989, p. 61. 
9. 10. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 254/5 
Whereas particular care should therefore be taken to 
limit the duration of night work, to take account of 
alternations in shift work patterns, to limit the amount of 
overtime in connection with night work and duly to 
inform the competent authority of the introduction of 
night work; 
Whereas the human body is especially sensitive at night 
to environmental disturbances and also to certain 
particularly burdensome forms' of work organization 
such as piece work, assembly-line work or work at a 
pre-established pace; 
Whereas it is important that a health assessment should 
be afforded to employees before being assigned to night 
work and at regular intervals thereafter, that they receive 
advice in order to prevent, reduce or avoid the adverse 
effects of night work and that night workers should be 
allowed to transfer to daytime work if their health so 
requires; 
Whereas the features of minimum rest periods and 
certain aspects of the organization of night and shift 
working time, peculiar to the seasonal nature of the 
work or specific to certain activities or resulting from 
exceptional situations limited in time should be duly 
taken into account and at the same time equivalent 
protection afforded to the employees concerned; 
Whereas changes in the patterns of working time, and 
more in particular adjustments to the pace of work may 
affect the work-load of the workers concerned and thus 
be harmful to their health and safety; whereas it is 
therefore necessary to take account of these factors 
when patterns of work are changed; 
Whereas this Directive covers only certain fundamental 
aspects of the organization of working time, which are 
considered particularly important from the point of view 
of workers' health and safety at the workplace, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
SECTION I 
Scope and definitions 
Article 1 
1. This Directive applies to minimum daily, weekly 
and yearly rest periods and to certain aspects of night 
and shift work. 
2. The provisions of Directive 89/391/EEC are fully 
applicable to the matters referred to in paragraph 1 
without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific 
provisions contained in this Directive. Article 2 
For the purpose of this Directive the following defi­
nitions shall apply: 
1. 'working time' means hours of work as laid down by 
legislation, collective/enterprise agreement or indi­
vidual employment contract during which the 
employee is at the disposal of the employer at the 
work-site; 
2. 'rest period' means any period after the normal daily 
or weekly performance of work during which the 
employee is not at the disposal of the employer; 
3. 'night work' means all work performed during a 
period of not less than seven consecutive hours 
comprised between 8.00 p.m. and 9.00 a.m.; 
4. 'shift work' means a method of work organization 
whereby workers succeed each other in accordance 
with a certain time schedule; this may involve rotating 
or successive crews and be discontinuous or 
continuous; 
5. 'night worker' means an employee who performs night 
work, whether through shift work or otherwise on a 
regular basis; 
6. 'shift worker' means an employee rostered into a shift 
work schedule. 
SECTION II 
Daily, weekly and yearly rest 
Article 3 
Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to 
ensure compliance with the minimum daily rest period of 
11 consecutive hours per period of 24 hours. 
Article 4 
Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to 
ensure compliance, in every seven-day period, with the 
minimum period of one rest day on average following 
without interruption the daily rest period as defined in 
Article 3 calculated over a reference period of not more 
than 14 days. 
Article 5 
Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to 
ensure that all workers are afforded an annual paid 
holiday for a minimum period; the procedures relating to 
duration and any splitting shall be determined in 
accordance with national practices. 
Article 6 
The performance of overtime must not interfere with the 
minimum rest periods laid down in Articles 3 and 4. 
No C 254/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 9. 10. 90 
SECTION III 
Night work, shift work and patterns of work 
Article 7 
1. Normal hours of work for night workers shall not 
exceed an average of eight hours in any 24-hour period 
calculated over a reference period not longer than 14 
days in which they perform night work. 
2. In the event of shift work involving night work the 
working of two consecutive full-time shifts shall be 
prohibited. 
3. Subject to the provisions contained in paragraph 1, 
no overtime shall be performed by night workers before 
or after a daily period of work which includes night 
work in occupations involving special hazards or heavy 
physical or mental strain. 
4. The scheduling and total length of breaks for 
rotating shift workers and for night workers shall take 
account of the more demanding nature of those forms of 
working time. 
Article 8 
1. Employees durably subject to working time 
arrangements involving night work shall be entitled to a 
health assessment without charge prior to their 
assignment and at regular intervals thereafter. 
2. Where a night worker suffers from health problems 
recognized to be connected with the fact that he 
performs night work he shall be transferred, as soon as 
possible, to day work for which he is fit. 
Article 9 
The employer who regularly uses night workers shall 
duly inform the authorities competent in matters of 
health and safety. 
Article 10 
Member States shall adopt the necessary measures to 
ensure that night workers and rotating shift workers 
shall have a level of protection with regard to health and 
safety commensurate with the nature of their work. The 
employer shall ensure that protection and prevention 
facilities are available or accessible at all times. 
Article 11 
Member States shall ensure that employers take the 
necessary measures to ensure that changes made to 
patterns of work take account, according to the type of 
activity, of health and safety requirements, especially as 
regards breaks during working hours. SECTION IV 
Final provisions 
Article 12 
Derogations from the provisions set out in Articles 3, 4 
and 7 are permitted: 
1. in cases of force majeure, or of an actual or imminent 
accident, provided that equivalent compensatory rest 
periods are granted to the employees concerned; 
2. where the seasonal nature of the work performed or 
the features peculiar to certain activities or excep­
tional situations limited in time objectively conflict 
with the said provisions, provided that equivalent 
compensatory rest periods are granted within a 
reference period which must not exceed six months; 
3. in case of collective agreements made between 
employers and representatives of the workers at the 
appropriate levels, aiming at setting up a compre­
hensive set of provisions regarding the adjustment of 
working time corresponding to the specific conditions 
of the enterprise, including daily and weekly rest 
periods as well as night and shift work, subject to the 
condition that on these specific points equivalent 
periods of compensatory rest are granted to the 
workers within a reference period that must not 
exceed six months. 
Article 13 
The provisions contained in this Directive shall be 
without prejudice to other specific provisions taken by 
the Community. 
Article 14 
Member States shall comply with this Directive by 
31 December 1992 at the latest, by bringing into force 
the laws, regulations or administrative provisions 
necessary or by ensuring that the two sides of industry 
establish the necessary provisions through agreement, 
without prejudice to the obligation on the Member 
States to achieve the results to be obtained by this 
Directive. 
The provisions adopted by the Member States pursuant 
to the first paragraph shall make express reference to this 
Directive. 
Member States shall forthwith inform the Commission of 
the measures taken thereunder. 
Article 15 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.