Council adopts position on revised rules for bus drivers

To improve road safety and working conditions for drivers providing occasional bus and coach services in Europe, the Council adopted its common position (general approach).

Today, we took another step to improve road safety in the EU. Once adopted, the new rules on minimum breaks and rest periods for bus drivers will ensure better working conditions for them and guarantee safer road trips for tourists across Europe.

Óscar Puente, Spanish minister of transport and sustainable mobility

Main objectives of the proposal

The Commission’s proposal consists of targeted amendments to the 2006 regulation aiming to introduce three elements of flexibility into break and rest time rules for professional drivers engaged in occasional passenger transport, such as tour buses, reflecting their special work patterns, while preserving the rules’ effectiveness in preventing driver fatigue.

The general thrust of the proposal was retained by the member states since all three elements of flexibility suggested by the Commission are included in the Council’s common position.

Key elements of the Council’s position

However, based on numerous requests by member states relating to the scope and safeguards of specific rest rules, and to corresponding control provisions, the Council amended some aspects of the Commission’s proposal. The key elements of the Council’s common position are as follows:

  • the flexibility to replace the required minimum rest period of 45 minutes with breaks of at least 15 minutes each (adding at least 45 minutes), spread over the 4.5 hours driving period, provided that the total accumulated driving time for that day has not exceeded 7 hours
  • the flexibility to postpone the daily rest period by 1 hour, provided that the total accumulated driving time for that day has not exceeded 7 hours, and that this option is exercised once during a journey with a duration of at least 6 days, or twice during a journey of at least 8 days
  • the flexibility to postpone the weekly rest period for up to 12 consecutive days following a previous regular weekly rest period, provided that the service lasts at least 24 consecutive hours; this option, already used in international services, could now be applied to domestic services as well.
  • on control provisions, the Council’s text provides that the required documentation for using the derogations is a single one, namely a journey form on board
  • the documentation on board extends to previous trips during a certain period of time, for which copies need to be carried on board, in paper or electronic form
  • the Commission will amend the tachograph specifications so that the type of passenger transport can be read from the machine and the requirement to carry documents for previous trips on board will be discontinued when the tachograph is in use.

The abovementioned approach on supervision is practical, aligned with similar rules on manual documentation, and favours technical support of the tachograph in the future.

Next steps

Following today’s adoption of the Council’s negotiating mandate (general approach), the incoming presidency can enter talks with the European Parliament (‘trilogues’) on this file.

Background information

During the adoption of ‘Mobility Package I’ in 2020, the European Commission committed to evaluating the appropriateness of the rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods for drivers engaged in occasional road passenger transport (Regulation (EC) No 561/2006). Despite the objective differences in the working environment, the social provisions adopted in 2020 make no distinction between freight and passenger transport, nor between regular and occasional services.

Rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods in road transport have been a topic of debate since 1969. Specific rules for passenger services were introduced by the Council in 1985, but were later abolished in 2006, and only partly re-introduced in 2009 (for international occasional passenger services). The scope of this proposal, submitted by the Commission on 24 May 2023, is limited to national and international occasional passenger services, which are the most relevant to tourism. The proposal intends to introduce three flexibility elements into the breaks and rest time rules of drivers engaged in occasional passenger transport. The proposal concerns roughly 3% of passenger transport by bus at EU level.