Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 8 U.K.

1. A driver shall take daily and weekly rest periods.

2. Within each period of 24 hours after the end of the previous daily rest period or weekly rest period a driver shall have taken a new daily rest period.

If the portion of the daily rest period which falls within that 24 hour period is at least nine hours but less than 11 hours, then the daily rest period in question shall be regarded as a reduced daily rest period.

3. A daily rest period may be extended to make a regular weekly rest period or a reduced weekly rest period.

4. A driver may have at most three reduced daily rest periods between any two weekly rest periods.

5. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, within 30 hours of the end of a daily or weekly rest period, a driver engaged in multi-manning must have taken a new daily rest period of at least nine hours.

[F1 6. In any two consecutive weeks a driver shall take at least:

(a) two regular weekly rest periods; or

(b) one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period of at least 24 hours.

A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period.

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, a driver engaged in international transport of goods may, outside the Member State of establishment, take two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods provided that the driver in any four consecutive weeks takes at least four weekly rest periods, of which at least two shall be regular weekly rest periods.

For the purpose of this paragraph, a driver shall be considered to be engaged in international transport where the driver starts the two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods outside the Member State of the employer’s establishment and the country of the drivers’ place of residence.]

F2 6a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F3 6b. Any reduction in weekly rest period shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest taken en bloc before the end of the third week following the week in question.

Where two reduced weekly rest periods have been taken consecutively in accordance with the third subparagraph of paragraph 6, the next weekly rest period shall be preceded by a rest period taken as compensation for those two reduced weekly rest periods.]

7. Any rest taken as compensation for a reduced weekly rest period shall be attached to another rest period of at least nine hours.

[F1 8. The regular weekly rest periods and any weekly rest period of more than 45 hours taken in compensation for previous reduced weekly rest periods shall not be taken in a vehicle. They shall be taken in suitable gender-friendly accommodation with adequate sleeping and sanitary facilities.

Any costs for accommodation outside the vehicle shall be covered by the employer.]

[F3 8a. Transport undertakings shall organise the work of drivers in such a way that the drivers are able to return to the employer’s operational centre where the driver is normally based and where the driver’s weekly rest period begins, in the Member State of the employer’s establishment, or to return to the drivers’ place of residence, within each period of four consecutive weeks, in order to spend at least one regular weekly rest period or a weekly rest period of more than 45 hours taken in compensation for reduced weekly rest period.

However, where the driver has taken two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods in accordance with paragraph 6, the transport undertaking shall organise the work of the driver in such a way that the driver is able to return before the start of the regular weekly rest period of more than 45 hours taken in compensation.

The undertaking shall document how it fulfils that obligation and shall keep the documentation at its premises in order to present it at the request of control authorities.]

9. A weekly rest period that falls in two weeks may be counted in either week, but not in both.

[F3 10. No later than 21 August 2022 , the Commission shall evaluate and report to Parliament and to the Council on whether more appropriate rules for drivers engaged in occasional services of carriage of passengers, as defined in point 4 of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 can be adopted.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs.

F2 Art. 8(6a) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Drivers' Hours and Tachographs (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/453), regs. 1(3), 62 (with reg. 114); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs.