ROAD TRANSPORT : WORKING TIME OF SELF-EMPLOYED STILL SPARKS DISAGREEMENT IN EP.

• Position: European Parliament

Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) rejected, on 23 February, a draft opinion on revision of the Working Time Directive for road transport workers. Rapporteur Said El Khadraoui (S&D, Belgium) proposed: 1. to include self-employed workers in the directive, 2. a flat-rate calculation of their working time, and 3. controls organised by the member states themselves, transmitted in the form of statistical statements to the European Commission every two years. Almost all the amendments were rejected during the vote and El Khadraoui himself suggested not to present the draft opinion to the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), which is in charge of the dossier.

Working time for road transport workers is governed by Directive 2002/15/EC. It provides for the automatic inclusion of self-employed drivers as from 23 March 2009 (almost a year ago), unless the Commission presents a proposal to exclude them from the text. The Commission presented such a proposal at the end of 2008, but the Parliament rejected it, in May 2009. The report then went back to committee and in September 2009 - in a vote of 25 to 24 - the EMPL committee rejected the report that recommended rejection of the Commission's proposal. This marked a return to square one: MEPs now have to draft a new report on the draft directive. It will be considered their first-reading report (co-decision).

The European Builders Confederation (EBC), which represents construction crafts firms and SMEs, welcomed the outcome of the TRAN committee vote. The association is particularly pleased over rejection of the inclusion the self-employed in the directive and rejection of the amendment that could have led to an extension of social legislation (including on driving and rest time) to vehicles of less than 3.5 tonnes. This question is governed by Regulation (EC) 561/2006 on the harmonisation of...