1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
EC threatens to hand out warnings over the WTD
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
COUNTRIES KEEPING quiet over their implementation of the Working Time Directive (WTD) are one step away from being referred to the European Court of Justice, according to the Freight Transport Association.
Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland are among 10 countries that have failed to tell the European Commission (EC) what measures have been taken to implement the Directive, which came into force more than eight months ago.
The EC has now decided to send these countries "reasoned opinions" — or second written warnings which arc the last step before being called before the European Court of Justice.
Joan Williams, the FTA's head of road freight policy, says the EC could simply be "firing warning shots". "The Commission has to be kept up to date with everything the countries are doing," she says.
"I'm not sure how far on they are with this process. It may be a case of amending existing legislation. Germany's internal labour laws, for example, may be more restrictive than the The other countries that face warnings are Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg and Spain.