WRITTEN QUESTION E-0554/00

by Theodorus Bouwman (Verts/ALE) and Karla Peijs (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 February 2000)

Subject: Hours of work for cockpit crew, air traffic safety and the internal market

On 21 January the Dutch TV programme Netwerk was devoted to the hours of work of aircraft cockpit crew: very long periods of fourteen hours or more are not an exception, particularly for charter companies.

Recent research by the Deutsches Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German aerospace institute) in Cologne has shown that excessively long hours of work jeopardise safety. Continuous periods of work longer than ten hours at night and twelve hours during the day cause cockpit crew to become overfatigued and to lose concentration.

Similar research by NASA in the USA confirms these findings and as a result the maximum working hours are set at ten at night and twelve during the day for the entire United States.

The rules applied by the EU Member States differ. The rules in the Netherlands are generous, with a maximum of sixteen hours and an additional one and a half hours for unforeseen circumstances.

- Is the Commission familiar with the NASA and DLR research?

- Does the Commission agree that given these research findings it would be irresponsible to allow cockpit crew to work longer than the periods recommended by NASA and the DLR?

- Does the Commission agree that the proper functioning of the internal market requires that all Member Stares apply the same safety-based hours of work?

Point 5 of the explanatory statement to the Smet report (A5-0041/1999) on amending directive 93/104/EC(1), concerns certain aspects of the organisation of working time, says that the Commission has promised to submit a proposal for air crew.

- Will the Commission also propose taking up the scientific recommendations mentioned above and incorporating them out in the directive? If so, when?

(1) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(5 May 2000)

The duration of flight and rest periods of air crew is clearly an element of the safety of air transport and this is the reason why, as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Member States have developed national regulatory schemes in this field. The Commission is aware of the fact that such national regulations are not harmonised in the Community and that this might affect the good functioning of the internal market, as well as lower the level of safety of the European air transport. For the reason, the Commission is exploring the possibility of proposing a common regulatory scheme.

In developing this work, the Commission has indeed built on existing scientific knowledge as recommended by the Honourable Members. Therefore note has been taken of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Deutsches Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) studies, as well as of many others carried out in this field over the years. The Commission cannot conclude that working longer than as indicated in the NASA or DLR studies would be necessarily unsafe. These studies do in fact not draw such conclusions, but develop guidelines and best practices for the safe rostering of air crew. It is the Commission's intention to use the results of these studies for the construction of a reliable method of assessment of the fatigue implications of various possible flight and rest time schemes, so as to assist in the common regulatory process they envisage. A study contract will soon be awarded for the carrying out of this work.

Working hours of air crew are not only an element of operational safety of air transport, referred to above, but also an element of occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety requirements in respect of working time are covered for many sectors of the economy by Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993, to which the Honourable Members refer. The civil aviation sector, however, is excluded from the application field of this Directive and work is on going to provide workers in this sector with the necessary protection. It is in this context that on 22 March 2000, the social partners in the civil aviation sector concluded the European Agreement on the organisation of working time of mobile staff in civil aviation. Cockpit crew fall within the scope of that agreement which lays down minimum requirements in respect of the organisation of working time of crew members on board civil aircraft. In accordance with Article 139(2) (ex-article 118b) of the EC Treaty, and at the joint request of the signatory parties, it will be possible for the Commission to propose that the agreement be implemented by a Council directive.