WRITTEN QUESTION E-2285/02 by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Refusal to pay overtime and consequences for the health care of citizens and doctors' health resulting from cuts in the numbers of doctors on duty.
Date: 2002-07-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Greece, application of EU law, competence of the Member States, health policy, labour law, organisation of health care, overtime, physician, remuneration of work, working time

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/219

(2002/C 309 E/251)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2282/02

by Bernd Lange (PSE) to the Commission

(24 July 2002)

Subject: Gas filling stations inside the EU

More and more questions are being asked about the problem of filling up gas-fuelled cars in the EU.

Since there are evidently no uniform standards, owners of gas-driven cars find it impossible to fill up using
a single system throughout Europe. There are considerable extra costs and obstacles involved. Furthermore,
some filling-stations refuse to sell gas to tourists or foreigners. In many EU countries there are too few gas
filling stations.

What steps will the Commission take to promote standardisation in this sphere? What measures has it
introduced to make driving gas-fuelled cars more attractive for consumers?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(5 September 2002)

New cars that are capable of using a gas fuel, for example liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or compressed
natural gas (CNG), and vehicles that have been converted to run on such fuels are covered by certain
Community requirements that govern the safety of the gas fuel installation on the vehicle and the design of
filling aperture. For example, United Nations-Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE)
the fuel
Regulation No 67 provides for the type-approval of LPG equipment installed on motor vehicles and
Regulation 110 provides for the type-approval of CNG equipment installed on motor vehicles. Both
Regulations are accepted for European whole vehicle type-approval. Accordingly, vehicles that have a gas
fuel system designed to the requirements of Regulation 67 or 110 should be able to fill up with the
relevant fuel throughout the Community.

Regulation 67 is in the process of being modified to further improve the safety of LPG installations and
work has to be completed in the UN-ECE forum before the Community can take a decision on any new
amendments. The Community is also in the process of proposing its accession to a new UN-ECE
Regulation for the type-approval of LPG and CNG retro-fit systems. The proposed accession to this new
draft regulation on retrofitting which will be very soon transmitted to the Parliament through the assent
procedure can be considered as the quickest to promote standardisation for attracting more consumers to
gas-fuelled vehicles.

The Commission has no specific competence in addressing the adequate numbers of filling stations in the
Community selling gas fuel. However, several Member States do operate incentive schemes to encourage
the use of alternative fuel vehicles using LPG or CNG either as a new bi-fuel vehicle or an existing vehicle
retro-fitted to also operate on a gas fuel.

(2002/C 309 E/252)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2285/02

by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 July 2002)

Subject: Refusal to pay overtime and consequences for the health care of citizens and doctors’ health

resulting from cuts in the numbers of doctors on duty

According to a reference document submitted to the European Parliament and in the light of many related
incidents that have occurred on Greek territory, it seems that unexpected cuts are being made in the
number of doctors on duty and that duty doctors are not being remunerated for their work. This has
is much frequented by tourists,
occurred, for example,

in the region of Chalkidiki. Since Chalkidiki

C 309 E/220

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

especially in the summer, and given that the nearest hospital to the region is in Thessaloniki which is some
60 kilometres away, the conditions of care for patients are naturally particularly poor. This situation is
completely at odds with Article 141, paragraph 2(b) of the EC Treaty which states that ‘pay for work at
time rates shall be the same for the same job’, something which does not of course occur in the above
instances, since doctors work overtime for which they are not remunerated. Likewise, the basic social
rights of workers which are protected by the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of
Workers and the Council resolution on fundamental policy options in the health sector are being violated,
since they are performing compulsory work for which they are not receiving any remuneration.

In view of all the above and also the lack of interest shown by the Greek Government in finding a solution
to the problem, will the Commission say:

1. Will it take measures to put an end to the violation of the basic social right of workers to receive

equal pay for equal work and thus ensure that overtime worked by doctors is remunerated?

2. What action can the Commission take to intervene to ensure the proper care of European citizens and
to ensure that doctors in the Greek national health system enjoy dignified working conditions?

3. What measures does the Commission intend to take to put an end to the above cuts which seriously

endanger the health of citizens and the care they receive?

4. How does it intend to address the fact that doctors’ very health is at risk and that there is a danger
that medical errors may occur, since doctors are exhausted by examining patients uninterruptedly and
without the assistance of nursing staff?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(20 September 2002)

The question asked by the Honourable Member touches on two different issues. The first is overtime
remuneration for doctors on call, the second the protection of their health and safety.

As far as overtime remuneration is concerned, it remains an area of national competence and thus does
not fall within the scope of Union law. The Commission would point out that Article 137(6) of the EC
Treaty excludes remuneration from the areas in which the Community shall support and complement the
activities of the Member States, while Article 141(2)(b) of the EC Treaty covers equal pay for male and
female workers and thus does not apply in the present case.

As far as the protection of health and safety is concerned, the provisions of the Working Time Directive
(Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of
working time (1)), in principle, apply. According to Article 1(3), only the activities of doctors in training
come within the exceptions to the scope of that Directive (2).

Workers covered by the Directive are entitled to:

(cid:1) a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period (Article 3);

(cid:1) a rest break where the working day is longer than six hours (Article 4);

(cid:1) an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours for each seven-day period (Article 5);

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/221

(cid:1) an average working time for each seven-day period,

including overtime, not exceeding 48 hours

(Article 6);

(cid:1) paid annual leave of at least four weeks (Article 7);

(cid:1) a limit on the length of night work to an average of eight hours in any 24-hour period (Article 8).

Directive 93/104/EC provides a number of derogations from its basic rules, having regard to particular
features of certain activities. Article 17, paragraph 2.1 (c) (i) lays down that Member States may derogate
from Articles 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16 in the case of activities involving the need for continuity of service or
production, particularly services relating to the reception, treatment and/or care provided by hospitals or
similar establishments, residential institutions and prisons.

Concerning the working time of doctors, the European Court of Justice held that time spent on call in
primary health care teams must be regarded in its entirety as working time, and where appropriate as
overtime, within the meaning of Directive 93/104/EC if they are required to be at the health centre. If they
must merely be contactable at all times when on call, only time linked to the actual provision of primary
health care services must be regarded as working time (Case C-303/98 (cid:1) SIMAP (3)).

It is the responsibility of the Member States to ensure compliance with these provisions and to sanction
any breaches thereof.

(1) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.
(2) Doctors in training are covered by Directive 2000/34/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000
which amends Council Directive 93/104/EC (OJ L 195, 1.8.2000) and has to be transposed by Member States not
later than 1 August 2004.

(3) Case C-303/98, ECR 2000, p. I-07963.

(2002/C 309 E/253)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2297/02

by Isidoro Sánchez García (ELDR) to the Commission

Subject: Revision of the White Paper on Transport in 2004

(25 July 2002)

What are the chances that in the Commission’s revision of its White Paper on European transport policy
scheduled for 2004 the network map will include the province of Teruel, on the route of the Spanish high-
speed rail link between Madrid, Cuenca and Valencia?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(22 August 2002)

The Commission has announced that in 2004 it intends to propose a revision of Decision 1692/96/EC (1)
on Community guidelines for the trans-European transport network. As indicated in the White Paper, this
revision will aim to focus Community action on a reduced number of priorities along major routes,
integrate the networks of the candidate countries and integrate maritime corridors. Since competence for
the trans-European networks is shared with the Member States, the Commission will work in close
collaboration with the national administrations in drawing up the revision proposal.

The Commission would also draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the proposal for an interim
revision of the guidelines (2), currently being examined by the Council. This proposal includes the addition
to the maps in Annex I to the aforementioned Decision of the planned high-speed Huesca-Zaragoza-Teruel
rail link, whose construction will help open up the Province of Teruel. Parliament has already delivered a
positive opinion on the proposal.

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996.
(2) OJ C 362 E, 18.12.2001.