UK retains working time opt out
April 30th 2009
Talks on the EU Working Time Directive have broken down without agreement being reached.
The collapse sees the end of the European Parliament's proposal to phase out the opt-out in three years. The UK and other countries have consistently resisted this proposal which would have ended employees ability to choose to work more than 48 hours a week.
A conciliation meeting in Brussels between the Member States, European Parliament and the European Commission was unable to resolve the long-standing differences between the European Parliament and member states over whether to retain the opt-out or not. With the deadline for reaching an agreement rapidly approaching, and the differences between the parties too great, it was agreed there was no value in continuing the negotiations any further.
The dossier in its current form will formally fall when the conciliation timetable reaches its conclusion in May. It will then be for the European Commission to decide how to proceed. In the mean time, the opt-out remains available.