Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the derogation provided in Article 8(6a) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12-day rule)

The European Union (EU) has established a framework of social rules for goods and passenger road transport, with the aim of avoiding distortion of competition, improving road safety and ensuring adequate health and safety conditions of road transport mobile workers. Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 provides for a common set of EU minimum requirements on, inter alia, driving times, breaks and rest periods. These rules apply to all professional drivers, be they employed or self-employed, engaged in passengers or goods transport operations, subject to specific exceptions and national derogations.

As a general rule Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 provides in its Article 8 that a driver should start a weekly rest period no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest. However, Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services, and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 (recast) introduced a derogation from this weekly rest provision. The new Article 8(6a) allows drivers, who are engaged in a single occasional service of international carriage of passengers, to postpone the weekly rest period for up to 12 consecutive 24-hour periods (hereinafter called the “12-day rule”) following a previous regular weekly rest, provided that specific conditions are met.

In order to address certain concerns expressed at the time of its adoption, Article 8(6a) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 specifies that the Commission should closely monitor the use made of this derogation and should draw up a report assessing the consequences of the derogation in respect of road safety as well as social aspects and, if deemed appropriate, to propose amendments to this Regulation in this respect. The present report follows this monitoring obligation and provides for an overview of the use of the 12-day rule derogation in the Member States and its perceived impacts in the context of the Regulation's main objectives.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)337: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:337:FIN

---