The Freight Transport Association has written to the European Commission
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outlining its members' concerns over the inclusion of transport workers within the Working Time Directive which proposes a 48-hour maximum week. Owen Thomas, the FTA's head of road freight policy, believes such legislation would bring with it a ''substantial amount of bureaucracy" and cause problems for hauliers, such as the need to buy more trucks, hire more drivers and modify load scheduling times.
Transport workers were initially exempt from the directive. However, before Christmas EU member state representatives unanimously agreed that minimum provisions must be established in the transport sector (CM18-31 Dec 1997).
Thomas also calls on the commission to keep existing rules on drivers hours and any new directive separate: "They are two entirely different things," he insists.