CELEX: C2005/217/44
Language: en
Date: 2005-09-03 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 July 2005 in Case C-52/04: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Personalrat der Feuerwehr Hamburg v Leiter der Feuerwehr Hamburg (Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Social policy — Protection of workers' health and safety — Directives 89/391/EEC and 93/104/EC — Scope — Operational crews of a public fire service — Inclusion — Conditions)

3.9.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 217/23
            
         
      ORDER OF THE COURT
   
   (Second Chamber)
   of 14 July 2005
   in Case C-52/04: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Personalrat der Feuerwehr Hamburg v Leiter der Feuerwehr Hamburg (1)
   
   (Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure - Social policy - Protection of workers' health and safety - Directives 89/391/EEC and 93/104/EC - Scope - Operational crews of a public fire service - Inclusion - Conditions)
   (2005/C 217/44)
   Language of the case: German
   In Case C-52/04: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Germany), made by decision of 17 December 2003, received at the Court on 10 February 2004, in the proceedings between Personalrat der Feuerwehr Hamburg and Leiter der Feuerwehr Hamburg — the Court (Second Chamber), composed of C. W. A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur), J. Makarczyk and J. Klučka, Judges; D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, made an order on 14 July 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:
   Article 2 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 and Article 1(3) of Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time must be interpreted as meaning that:
   
               —
            
            
               the activities carried out by the operational crews of a public fire service such as that at issue in the main proceedings normally fall within the scope of the directives referred to so that, in principle, Article 6(2) of Directive 93/104 precludes exceeding the 48 hours' ceiling prescribed as the maximum weekly working time, including guard duty;
            
         
               —
            
            
               it is nevertheless possible for such ceiling to be exceeded in exceptional circumstances of such gravity and scale that the aim of ensuring the proper functioning of services essential for the protection of public interests, such as public order, health and safety, must temporarily prevail over the aim of guaranteeing the health and safety of workers assigned to intervention and rescue teams. Even in such exceptional situations, however, the aims of Directive 89/391 must be upheld as far as possible.
            
         
      (1)  OJ C 94 of 17.04.2004.