Directive 2000/34 - Amendment of Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time to cover sectors and activities excluded from that Directive - Main contents

official title

 

Legal instrument	Directive
Number legal act	Directive 2000/34
Original proposal	COM(1998)662
CELEX number i	32000L0034

Avis juridique important

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Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 amending Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time to cover sectors and activities excluded from that Directive

Official Journal L 195 , 01/08/2000 P. 0041 - 0045

Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 22 June 2000

amending Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time to cover sectors and activities excluded from that Directive

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 137(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 3 April 2000,

Whereas:

• (1) 

  Article 137 of the Treaty provides that the Community is to support and complement the activities of the Member States with a view to improving the working environment to protect workers' health and safety. Directives adopted on the basis of that Article are to avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings.

• (2) 

  Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time(4) lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time, in respect of periods of daily rest, breaks, weekly rest, maximum weekly working time, annual leave and aspects of night work, shift work and patterns of work. That Directive should be amended for the following reasons.

• (3) 

  Road, air, sea and rail transport, inland waterways, sea fishing, other work at sea and the activities of doctors in training are excluded from the scope of Council Directive 93/104/EC.

• (4) 

  The Commission, in its proposal of 20 September 1990, did not exclude any sectors and activities from Council Directive 93/104/EC, nor did the European Parliament in its Opinion of 20 February 1991 accept such exclusions.

• (5) 

  The health and safety of workers should be protected at the workplace not because they work in a particular sector or carry out a particular activity, but because they are workers.

• (6) 

  As regards sectoral legislation for mobile workers, a complementary and parallel approach is needed in the provisions on transport safety and the health and safety of the workers concerned.

• (7) 

  Account needs to be taken of the specific nature of activities at sea and of doctors in training.

• (8) 

  Protection of the health and safety of mobile workers in the excluded sectors and activities should also be guaranteed.

• (9) 

  The existing provisions concerning annual leave and health assessments for night work and shift work should be extended to include mobile workers in the excluded sectors and activities.

• (10) 

  The existing provisions on working time and rest need to be adapted for mobile workers in the excluded sectors and activities.

• (11) 

  All workers should have adequate rest periods. The concept of "rest" must be expressed in units of time, i.e. in days, hours and/or fractions thereof.

• (12) 

  A European Agreement in respect of the working time of seafarers has been put into effect by means of a Council Directive(5), on a proposal from the Commission, in accordance with Article 139(2) of the Treaty. Accordingly, the provisions of this Directive should not apply to seafarers.

• (13) 

  In the case of those "share-fishermen" who are employees, it is for Member States...

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