More particularly, it contains the following general provisions:
- Definitions of working time, periods of availability, place of work, mobile worker, self-employed driver, week, night time and night work;
- Maximum working week: 48 hours (this can be extended to 60 hours provided an average of 48 hours per week is not exceeded in any 4 month period);
- Breaks: not more than 6 hours should be worked consecutively without a break (at least 30 min when 6 to 9 hours are worked per day);
- Rest time: the provisions of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 are maintained;
- Night work: not more than 10 hours worked in any 24-hour period when a night shift is performed.
The rules are applicable to all mobile workers from 23 March 2005, while self-employed drivers were temporary excluded until 23 March 2009. A proposal for a Directive 
by the Commission to make this exclusion permanent while tackling the problem of false self-employed drivers was rejected by the European Parliament. Working time rules are thus applicable to all drivers, including self-employed ones, as of 23 March 2009.
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