EU hours concession for military reservists

The Government has secured a concession from the European Commission to allow drivers of large goods and passenger vehicles who are also military reservists to undertake military weekend training without falling foul of the EU drivers' hours rules on weekly rest.

The new exemption will benefit volunteer reserve forces in the Territorial Army, Royal Navy Reservists, Royal Marine Reservists, and Royal Auxiliary Air Force as well as cadet instructors. The weekly rest concession contains the following safeguards:

• it will apply to 15 days' annual camp and 10 weekend training sessions per annum - a total of 35 days.  Weekend training will not be allowed to take place on consecutive weeks (other than in respect of the 15-day annual camp);
• a regular daily rest period of 11 hours must be taken between the end of weekend training and start of work for the primary employer; and
• a regular weekly rest period of 45 hours must be taken no later than at the end of the sixth day following a period of weekend training.

The Ministry of Defence will issue guidelines that outline how drivers can manage their volunteer reserve service in accordance with the exemption. The exemption must now be transposed into domestic legislation, but in the meantime the Department for Transport (DfT) intends to implement the concession administratively. A copy of the DfT press release can be downloaded here