§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the reference numbers of any present or proposed European Union legislation which might affect working time in the United Kingdom; what is the state of play of that legislation; and what is their estimate of its cost and benefit to the United Kingdom. [HL2116]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)The Government's Working Time Regulations (S. I.1998/1933) came into force on 1 October 1998, implementing the European Working Time Directive (93/104/EC) and provisions of the Young Workers Directive (94/33/EC) concerning working time.
The Commission published proposals on 18 November 1998 to extend the Working Time Directive (93/104/EC) to the sectors that were excluded from the directive when it was originally negotiated. These consisted of four legislative proposals:
a proposal to amend the WTD (98/0318 (SYN));
two proposals for seafarers (98/0320 (PRT) and (98/0321 (SYN));
the second, a proposal for seafarers, would control the hours of seafarers aboard ships that use Community ports;
a proposal for the road transport sector (98/0319 (SYN)).
A Regulatory Impact Assessment on the costs and benefits resulting from the implementation of the regulations was made, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House.