A controversial proposal which would have seen self-employed truck drivers exempted from rules on working hours has been rejected by MEPS in the European Parliament.
The vote means that self-employed drivers will have to obey the same laws on working hours as their employed counterparts.
The current EU law on employed drivers sets down an average limit of 48 hours per week, rising to 60 hours providing it does not exceed the average over a four-month period, however self-employed drivers have been exempt from this law since 2009.
The European Commission recommended that the self-employed drivers be permanently exempted from the working time and its position was supported by a report on the matter to the EU parliament drafted by Slovakian MEP Edith Bauer.
The proposal was voted down by the parliament’s employment committee in April due to health and safety fears and concerns over fair competition.
Today's vote by the full EU Parliament at a plenary session in Strasbourg saw the proposal defeated by just 67 votes, meaning self-employed drivers will remain within the working time directive.
There were fears amongst MEPs, including Labour’s Pronsias de Rossa, that if self-employed drivers were permanently excluded from the working time rules, transport operators would face unfair competition from companies exploiting “false” self-employed drivers and that this would in turn affect responsible operators.
He further argued that the proposal was “dangerous to the health of drivers and a danger to other road users".
However, Independent MEP Marian Harkin said that the inclusion of self-employed workers under the working time directive would be hugely damaging for small and medium sized entrepreneurs.
“This legislation will have a significant impact on drivers and put them out of business at a time when we are trying to encourage entrepreneurs to start up.”
She said drivers should be allowed to organise their own working time. “Self employed drivers are already limited to a maximum level of driving time without us adding another layer of bureaucracy,” she said.