Given the high rate of participation in the last days to the public consultation on the review of the Working Time Directive, we have decided to postpone its closure to 18 March 2015. We therefore invite you to have your say!

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The Commission is reviewing the Working Time Directive to reflect on how to best meet the needs of workers, businesses, public services and consumers.

We wish to complete our preparatory work with a thorough impact assessment of a range of possible options for the review. This public consultation aims at contributing to the current review and impact assessment.

Background

The organisation and regulation of working time in the public and private sector has considerable social, economic and political impact.

At EU level, Directive 2003/88/EC (the Working Time Directive) aims at providing minimum standards common to all EU countries to protect workers from health and safety risks associated with excessive or inappropriate working hours, and with inadequate time for rest and recovery from work.