REGULATION (EC) No 561/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2006
on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85
Article 8
8. Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and reduced weekly rest periods away from the base may be taken in a vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each driver and the vehicle is stationary.
Article 9
By way of derogation from Article 8, where a driver accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train and takes a regular daily rest period, that period may be interrupted not more than twice by other activities not exceeding one hour in total. During that regular daily rest period, the driver shall have access to a bunk or couchette.
Does a driver accompanying a vehicle transported by ferry or train, for a journey of 8 hours or more, and with access to a sleeper cabin, have to take the other parts of the regular weekly rest period in a suitable accommodation, or is s/he allowed to spend these parts of the regular weekly rest in the vehicle?
According to Article 8(8) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, the regular weekly rest periods and any weekly rest period of more than 45 hours taken in compensation for previous reduced weekly rest periods must not be taken in a vehicle. They must be taken in suitable accommodation, as detailed in the Regulation.
Article 9(1) of the Regulation deals with the situation where a driver accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train, and in this context provides for certain derogations. While referring to Article 8 as a whole, it does not allow to derogate from the ban established in Article 8(8), of taking certain types of rest in the vehicle. Instead, as follows from its terms, derogations permitted hereunder may only concern the possibility to “interrupt” certain rest periods, i.e. a regular daily rest period, a reduced weekly rest period or a regular weekly rest. It thus only derogates from the provision whereby a “rest” constitutes “any uninterrupted period during which a driver may freely dispose of his time”.
As a result, the driver may not, before embarking and/or after disembarking from the ferry/train, spend a part of his/her regular weekly rest in the vehicle.
