Report from the Commission on the implementation in 2005-2006 of Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (1st Report from the Commission on the implementation of the working time rules relating to road transport) {SEC(2009)1099}
Date: 2009-08-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: activity report, application of EU law, arrangement of working time, occupational safety, road safety, road transport, working time

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 3.8.2009 
COM(2009) 415 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the implementation in 2005-2006 of Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the 
working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities 

(1st report from the Commission on the implementation of the working time rules 
relating to road transport) 

{SEC(2009)1099} 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the implementation in 2005-2006 of Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the 
working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities 

(1st report from the Commission on the implementation of the working time rules 
relating to road transport) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report  deals  with  the  implementation  of  Directive  2002/15/EC1  on  the  organisation  of 
working time of mobile workers in road transport in the Member States.  

The Directive specifies the provisions for working time, breaks and night work. Its objectives 
are to improve road safety, prevent the distortion of competition and guarantee the safety and 
health of the mobile workers. This Directive thus complements the provisions of Regulation 
(EC)  561/2006 on  driving  times and rest periods that are  of direct influence on  road safety, 
and competition, as they specify the maximum driving time allowed. 

Despite the provision of Article 13 of the Directive, which obliges Member States to submit 
their  reports  for  the  years  2005  and  2006  by  30  September  2007,  the  Commission  had 
received  only  two  national  reports  in  due  time.  The  Commission  therefore  launched 
infringement  procedures  for  non-compliance  with  their  respective  obligations  against  a 
majority of the Member States. One of the reasons for this unsatisfactory situation was that 
many Member States had a significant delay concerning the notification of the transposition 
of  the  Directive  itself  into  national  legislation.  Even  though  all  Member  States  have  now 
transposed  the  Directive,  one  has  to  note  that  only  very  few  Member  States  had  notified  a 
complete transposition in due time.  

All  Member  States,  which  submitted  their  reports,  used  the  standard  reporting  format 
established  by  Commission  Decision  of  22  September  20082  on  drawing  up  the  standard 
reporting  form.  The  reports  were  in  most  cases  complete  and  uniform,  but  they  lacked 
information  on  exact  numbers  of  checks  dedicated  to  Directive  2002/15/EC  on  the 
organisation of working time for mobile workers in road transport and on offences detected. 
This  important  information  should  be  made  available  in  order  to  be  able  to  asses  the 
effectiveness of national implementation measures.  

Bulgaria and Romania, having become Member States of the European Union only as from 1 
January  2007  and  therefore  after  the  end  of  the  reporting  period,  did  not  have  to  submit 
national reports, which is the reason why they are not taken into account. 

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Directive  2002/15/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  March  2002  on  the 
organisation  of  working  time  of  persons  performing  mobile  road  transport  activities  ,OJ  L  80, 
23.3.2002, p. 35 
Commission Decision of 22.IX.2008 drawing up the standard reporting form referred to in Article 17 of 
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, (C(2008)5123 final) 

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2. 

DIRECTIVE 2002/15/EC 

2.1. 

General Information 

Directive  2002/15/EC  on  the  organisation  of  working  time  of  mobile  workers  in  road 
transport is complementing Regulation (EC) No. 561/2006 on driving times and rest periods, 
which  regulates  the  majority  of  the  working  activity  of  professional  drivers,  namely  the 
driving  of  goods  and  passenger  vehicles.  This  Regulation  applies  to  all  professional  drivers 
engaged  in  the  transport  of  goods  or  passengers,  regardless  of  their  nature.  With  the  digital 
tachograph,  that  records  driving  times,  rest  periods,  periods  of  other  work  and  availability 
accurately,  having  become  compulsory  for  all  vehicles  registered  after  1  May  2006,  the 
enforcement of the social rules has substantially improved. The Directive is a lex specialis to 
Directive  2003/88/EC3  concerning  certain  aspects  of  the  organisation  of  working  time 
(hereinafter: the Basic Working Time Directive) and it covers other aspects of working time 
in  road  transport,  apart  from  driving  time  and  rest  periods.  Similarly,  as  the  Basic  Working 
Time  Directive,  it  applies  only  to  workers,  but  not  to  self-employed.  However,  a  provision 
foresees that under certain conditions the scope of this sectoral working time Directive shall 
be extended from 23 March 2009 onwards also to self-employed drivers.  

Directive  2002/15/EC  on  the  organisation  of  working  time  of  mobile  workers  in  road 
transport  defines  among  others  the  terms  of  "working  time",  "periods  of  availability"  and 
"night work". It furthermore sets a maximum weekly working time and minimum breaks.  

The  average  weekly  working  time  should  not  exceed  48  hours,  but  the  maximum  weekly 
working time may be extended to 60 hours by the competent bodies, if over four months an 
average of 48 hours per week is not exceeded. 

Member  States  shall  ensure  that  mobile  workers  do  not  have  to  work  for  more  than  six 
consecutive hours without a break. Breaks shall be at least of 30 or 45 minutes, depending on 
the  total  duration  of  daily  working  hours  and  may  be  subdivided  into  periods  of  at  least  15 
minutes each. 

If night work is being performed, the daily working time should not exceed ten hours within 
each 24 hours period and compensation for night work should be foreseen in a way that does 
not endanger road safety. 

Member  States  may  derogate  from  these  provisions  on  condition  that  social  partners  were 
consulted.  These  derogations  should  not  lead  to  a  reference  period  of  calculation  of  the 
average maximum weekly working time of 48 hours, which exceeds six months. 

Member States shall ensure that information is being given to mobile workers concerning the 
Directive and make sure that the working time of mobile workers in road transport is being 
recorded properly. For cases of non-compliance they should introduce a system of penalties. 

Finally, in order to enable the Commission to fulfil its obligation to issue a report every two 
years  on  the  implementation  of  the  Directive,  the  Member  States  have  to  submit  national 
reports no later than 30 September following the date on which the two-year period covered 

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Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning 
certain aspects of the organisation of working time, OJ L 299 , 18.11.2003 p. 9  

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by  the  report  expires.  The  two-year  period  ought  to  be  the  same  one  as  that  referred  to  in 
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. 

2.2. 

Transposition in the Member States 

One  of  the  biggest  problems  concerning  the  application  of  Directive  2002/15/EC  on  the 
organisation  of  working  time  of  mobile  workers  in  road  transport  was  its  late  transposition 
into  national  legislation  by  most  Member  States.  It  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  non-
compliance  of  Member  States  with  their  obligation  to  transpose  the  Directive  into  national 
law in due time has lead to a delay of the harmonisation of the social rules in the EU. This 
potentially harms the achievement of the objectives of the Directive. 

By  the  time  of  expiry  of  the  transposition  period  (23  March  2005)  only  very  few  Member 
States had notified a complete transposition. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, 
Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Sweden 
only notified transposition after the launch of an infringement procedure by the Commission. 
The other Member States notified their transposition legislation with delay. 

3. 

COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS 

3.1. 

Data Submission 

By  30  September  2007,  when  all  national  contributions  should  have  been  submitted  to  the 
Commission according to Article 13 of the Directive, only Finland and the United Kingdom 
had  submitted  their  reports.  Cyprus,  Sweden  and  Spain  delivered  their  reports  with  a  delay 
after a reminder, while the Commission had to launch infringement procedures against all the 
remaining Member States.  

It is obvious, that the failure of most Member States to comply with their obligations to send a 
national  report  to  the  Commission  is  owed  to  the  fact  that  some  of  them  only  notified  the 
implementation of the Directive at the end of or even after the expiry of the current reporting 
period.  As  has  been  stated  earlier,  almost  no  Member  State  managed  to  transpose  the 
Directive into national legislation by 23 March 2005, as prescribed by its Article 14.  

3.2. 

Checks and Offences 

Only Slovakia and Hungary indicated the exact numbers of checks and of offences detected in 
relation with the Directive and working time.  

In Hungary the report showed that the number of offences as well as the number of drivers 
involved decreased between 2005 and 2006. It remains to be seen whether this is a long term 
effect or not and to what extent Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of working time for 
mobile workers in road transport had an influence. 

In Slovakia, the number of shortcomings detected increased by more than 25% between 2005 
and 2006. 

Only  Greece  (Annual  report  by  the  Labour  Inspection  Corps),  Latvia  (Commercial  operator 
inspection  report  with  recommendations  to  the  operator),  Slovenia  (Setup  of  a  recording 
system  and  a  record  of  measures  being  taken  in  administrative  and  administrative  offence 
procedures) and the United Kingdom (Interviews with mobile workers and operators as well 

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as with stakeholders on the effects of the Directive) reported to have introduced a system to 
monitor the effectiveness of enforcement. 

For future reports it would be important to get information on these data in order to be able to 
assess the effectiveness of legal and administrative measures taken by the Member States to 
implement the Directive. 

3.3. 

Decisions by the Court of Justice and national Courts 

The ECJ did not pass any judgement relating to Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of 
working time for mobile workers in road transport during the reporting period. 

As  far  as  national  cases  are  concerned,  only  Sweden  (9  cases  submitted  to  the  public 
prosecutor),  the  Slovak  Republic  (several  administrative  procedures)  and  Slovenia  (several 
administrative  procedures  leading  to  fines  against  undertakings  for  not  keeping  records  of 
working  time)  reported  their  cases.  The  final  outcomes  of  these  proceedings  were  not 
reported. 

3.4. 

Comments 

This is the first report covering Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of working time of 
mobile workers in road transport. All Member States submitted their reports according to the 
format  as  specified  by  Commission  Decision  of  22  September  20084  on  drawing  up  the 
standard reporting form. That means that the Member States described the following points: 

- how the report has been produced and which stakeholders were consulted, 
- the implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC 
- the monitoring of the implementation 
- outlook to the future. 

There were only two points, to which scarce data were submitted:  

- the judicial interpretation, on which only Sweden, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia reported; 
- the assessment of effectiveness, which was only indicated by Greece, Latvia, Slovenia and 
the United Kingdom in their reports. 

Due to the fact that the transposition period ended on 23 March 2005 and that most Member 
States  did  not  transpose  the  Directive  at  the  beginning  of  the  reporting  period,  it  is  not 
surprising that the number of proceedings concerning the Directive is limited both in front of 
national courts and the European Court of Justice. 

As  far  as  the  assessment  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  Directive  is  concerned,  Member  States 
need to increase the quality of their reporting, as this is one of the points explicitly demanded 
by  the  reporting  format.  Member  States  should  provide  more  information  on  the  practical 
implementation of the Directive. They should describe also how their implementing measures 
will help a better achievement of the main objectives of the Directive. 

In most cases, Member States made no specific reference on the way checks were carried out. 
Due  to  the  structure  of  tachograph-recordings,  roadside  checks  only  deliver  limited 
information regarding night work and maximum weekly working time. 

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Commission Decision of 22.IX 2008 drawing up the standard reporting form referred to in Article 17 of 
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, C(2008)5123 final 

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3.5. 

Conclusions 

This is the first report on the implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC. Having received the 
reports from the Member States, it is difficult to assess whether the Directive had an effect on 
the respect of social rules in road transport. This is partly caused by the low compliance by 
Member  States  with  their  obligation  to  transpose  the  Directive  into  national  law  within  the 
prescribed timeframe, and to communicate this legislation to the Commission .  

Efforts by the Member States are needed to improve the assessment of the effectiveness of the 
measures taken by the Member States to implement the Directive. 

It  also  seems  to  be  of  potential  benefit  for  Member  States  to  increase  their  cooperation  in 
exchange of information on best enforcement practices. 

All of the reports should have included information concerning opinions of the two sides of 
the industry on the implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC as requested by the Directive. 

Most Member States did not comment on the level of compliance with the provisions of the 
Directive  and  transposing  national  legislation by  drivers  and  employers.  However,  from  the 
information  received,  the  Commission  assumes  that  the  provisions  of  the  Directive  are  not 
thoroughly respected.  

A  few  Member  States  commented  on  the  question  of  the  scope  of  the  Directive  and  the 
inclusion of self-employed drivers.  

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