Rules on working time must apply to self-employed lorry drivers, confirm MEPs
June 18th 2010 Self-employed lorry drivers must be brought under the same rules on working hours as drivers who work for companies, decided the European Parliament on Wednesday, confirming a previous vote by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee.
A majority of MEPs voted to reject the Commission's proposal that self-employed drivers continue to be exempted from the 2002 Working Time Directive on the road transport industry.
With 368 votes in favour, 301 against and 8 abstentions, Parliament's plenary confirmed the Employment Committee's vote of 28 April against any further exemption.
The committee had cited health and safety and road safety concerns plus the need for fair competition in the industry.
Current EU law on employed drivers lays down an average limit of 48 hours a week, which can rise to 60 hours a week provided it does not exceed the average of 48 hours a week over a four-month period.
Self-employed drivers were temporarily exempted from the rules of the existing EU directive on drivers' working hours.
RHA opinion
The Road Transport Directive is European legislation at its most ill-considered – and the vote in the European Parliament, on whether self-employed drivers should be included, underscores that fact.
The RTD has been a mess since its inception. It is a confused mixture of road safety and social legislation which creates a second regulation to EU 561/2006 on HGV (and coach) drivers’ hours. It adds further complexity to drivers; and vehicle operators have to keep two separate sets of records on working time.
It also creates a bizarre patchwork of reluctant, half-hearted or disinterested enforcement, made worse by the fact that (unlike 561/2006) one member state cannot enforce the regulation on visiting hauliers from another member state.
Road transport is one of very few sectors of working time where there is no opt-out – and yet, it was already subject to detailed rules on the hours that could be worked.
The confusions and contradictions inherent in this damaging directive were amply demonstrated by the debate in the Parliament. As one MEP suggested, the directive is a failure of EU policy-making.
In the current climate, the EU needs to follow the course set by the new Coalition government in the UK and eliminate pointless regulatory complexity and cost. A good place to start would be the bizarre two sets of rules on working time in road transport.
The RHA calls for the establishment of a single set of rules governing the work of HGV drivers in the road transport sector, with a common understanding of what the rules mean in all member states and a harmonised set of enforcement standards. More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
