Driving time and rest periods in the road transport sector

KEY POINTS

Regulation (EC) No 561/2006:

• applies to the carriage by road of goods by vehicles with a total mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes and to the transport by road of passengers by vehicles that are adapted to carry more than nine people (including the driver);
• as of 1 July 2026, will apply to the carriage by road of goods in international transport or in cabotage operations by vehicles (including any trailer or semi-trailer) with a total mass exceeding 2.5 tonnes;
• applies, irrespective of the country of registration of the vehicle, to carriage by road in the European Union (EU) and between EU Member States, Switzerland and European Economic Area countries.

Minimum age

Drivers’ mates and conductors must be at least 18 years old, except in certain circumstances for trainee drivers’ mates, for whom the minimum age is 16 (see Article 5 for more details).

Rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods

Detailed rules for these are set out in Articles 6, 7, 8, 8a and 9.

• These rules include:
  • a maximum amount of daily driving time of 9 hours, which can be extended to 10 hours no more than twice a week;
  • a maximum amount of weekly driving time of 56 hours;
  • a maximum total accumulated driving time of 90 hours during any 2 consecutive weeks;
  • that after driving for a period of 4.5 hours, a driver must take an uninterrupted break of not less than 45 minutes, unless they take a rest period;
  • a minimum daily rest of 11 hours, which can be reduced to 9 hours, but no more than three times between any two weekly rest periods;
  • a regular weekly rest period of a minimum of 45 hours and a reduced weekly rest period of a minimum of 24 hours.
• For tourist bus drivers, amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1258 introduces some flexibility with regard to breaks and rest periods for professional drivers engaged in occasional passenger transport both at the national and international levels. This flexibility does not change the current rules on total minimum breaks, on maximum driving periods per day and per week, on maximum fortnightly driving time and on maximum working time in accordance with applicable law. These drivers may split their mandatory break into two breaks of at least 15 minutes each, while respecting the total required minimum break of 45 minutes. They may postpone the daily rest period by 1 hour, so long as the total accumulated driving time for that day has not exceeded 7 hours, and so long as this option is exercised only once during a journey with a duration of at least 6 days, or twice during a journey of at least 8 days. They may also postpone the weekly rest period for up to 12 consecutive days following a previous regular weekly rest period.
• Transport companies must organise drivers’ work in such a way as to allow them to return to the employer’s operational centre where the drivers are normally based in the Member State or to the drivers’ place of residence and spend at least one regular weekly rest period (or a weekly rest period of more than 45 hours in compensation for a reduced weekly rest period) within each period of 4 consecutive weeks.
• Drivers must be able to take their 45-hour weekly rest in suitable gender-friendly accommodation with adequate sleeping and sanitary facilities (i.e. away from the vehicle’s cab), the cost of which must be met by the transport company as the employer.
• Drivers’ regular daily rest periods, reduced weekly rest periods and regular weekly rest periods must not be interrupted more than twice by other activities not exceeding 1 hour in total, where these drivers accompany vehicles that are transported by ferry or train. The interruption of regular daily and reduced weekly rest periods is only possible in the case of drivers who have access to a sleeper cabin, bunk or couchette in the ferry or train and, in the case of regular weekly rest, the interruption is only possible where the journey’s scheduled duration is of 8 hours or more and the driver has access to a sleeper cabin.
• The European Commission has adopted a delegated act, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1012, setting out standards for the level of service in safe and secure parking areas for drivers, and procedures for certifying the safety and security of such areas.

Minimum conditions for the implementation of the regulation

• Directive 2006/22/EC, as amended by Directive (EU) 2020/1057, lays down the minimum conditions for the implementation of Regulations (EC) No 561/2006 and (EU) No 165/2014 (see section on tachographs below).
• It seeks to ensure the proper application and harmonised interpretation of the social rules on road transport by laying down minimum requirements for the uniform and effective checking by Member States of compliance with the relevant rules. These checks should serve to reduce and prevent infringements.
• It requires Member States to introduce a risk rating system for transport companies based on the relative number and severity of any infringements that the individual company has committed. Companies with a high risk rating must be checked more closely and more often.

Tachographs

• Under Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 (see summary), tachographs must be installed in all vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes transporting goods by road and in vehicles that can carry more than nine people (including the driver), with certain exceptions. As of 1 July 2026, tachographs must be installed in vehicles of over 2.5 tonnes involved in international road transport or in cabotage operations.
• Tachograph technology moved first from analogue to digital and then from digital to more advanced digital, i.e. smart.
• Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 introduced rules on smart tachographs – a new generation of on-board devices to enforce the EU legislation on professional drivers’ driving and resting times. Smart tachographs version 1 are mandatory in all new vehicles registered after 15 June 2019 and version 2 after 21 August 2023. Smart tachographs provide automated recording through satellite positioning of driving time, breaks and rest periods, along with periods of availability and other work undertaken by a driver. They should improve compliance and permit early detection of possible fraud or misuse.
• Under amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1258, in the context of roadside checks, until a digital journey form is available, drivers must carry on board their vehicle paper or electronic copies of completed journey forms covering the previous 28 days and, as of 31 December 2024, covering the previous 56 days. The Commission is to consider the options for digitalising the journey form by 31 December 2026.
• Amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1258 also permits a Member State to enable the competent authorities to impose a penalty on an undertaking and/or a driver for an infringement of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 (until now exclusively of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006) detected on its territory and for which a penalty has not already been imposed, even where that infringement has been committed on the territory of another Member State or of a non-EU country.