S.I. No. 817/2004 - Organisation of Working Time (Inclusion of Transport Activities) Regulations 2004

I, MICHEÁL MARTIN, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and section 4 (3) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (No. 20 of 1997) and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993¹ as amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000² , hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Organisation of Working Time (Inclusion of Transport Activities) Regulations 2004 and shall come into effect on 1 January 2005.

2. In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (No. 20 of 1997),

“the Directive” means Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 as amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000.

3. A word or expression which is used in these Regulations and which is also used in the Directive has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Directive.

4. These Regulations shall not apply to:

(a) persons performing mobile road transport activities as defined in Directive 2002/15/EC³ of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002, and

(b) mobile staff in civil aviation as defined in the Annex to Council Directive 2000/79/EC of 27 November 2004.⁴

5. The Organisation of Working Time (Exemption of Transport Activities) Regulations 1998 ( S.I. No. 20 of 1998 ) are revoked.

6. Mobile Workers are exempted from the application of sections 11, 12, 13 and 16 of the Act.

7. If a mobile worker is not entitled, by reason of an exemption under Regulation 6, to the rest period and break referred to in sections 11, 12, and 13 of the Act, the employer shall ensure that such a mobile worker has available to himself or herself a rest period and break that, in all the circumstances, can reasonably be regarded as adequate rest.

8. The Schedule to the Organisation of Working Time (General Exemptions) Regulations 1998 ( S.I. No. 21 of 1998 ) is amended in paragraph 3(b)—

(a) by deleting paragraph (x), and

(b) by inserting after paragraph (ix) the following:

“(x) tourism,

(xi) workers concerned with the carriage of passengers on regular urban transport services,

(xii) in the case of persons working in railway transport—

(I)  whose activities are intermittent;

(II) who spend their working time on board trains; or

(III) whose activities are linked to transport timetables and to ensuring the continuity and regularity of traffic.”.

9. These Regulations shall apply without prejudice to any legislation that offers a greater level of protection to workers.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations transpose the provisions of Council Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time in relation to transport workers other than (a) workers performing mobile road transport activities as provided for in Directive 2002/15/EC and (b) mobile staff in civil aviation as defined in the Annex to Council Directive 2000/79/EC of 27 November 2000.

The effect of the transposition of Directive 2000/34/EC is to apply the maximum average working week of 48 hours to mobile and non-mobile transport workers covered by that Directive.

In addition, these Regulations prescribe that persons employed in the activities specified in Regulations 6 and 8 of these Regulations shall be exempt from the application of sections 11 , 12 and 13 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 which deal respectively with daily rest, rests and intervals at work and weekly rest, subject to being granted adequate rest or equivalent compensatory rest. Such persons shall also be exempt from the application of section 16 of that Act which deals with nightly working hours.

¹O.J. No. L307, 13.12.1993 p.18.

²O.J. No. L195, 01.08.2000 p.41.

³O.J. No. L80, 23.03.2002 p.35.

⁴O.J. No. L302, 01.12.2000 p.57.