The Working Time Directive and the European Court of Justice

Abstract

This article sheds light on how judgments of the European Court of Justice can influence the legislative process of the European Community by analyzing the legislative process surrounding the Working Time Directive. In 2000 the European Court of Justice interpreted the Working Time Directive in SIMAP and ruled that the time spent on-call by doctors constitutes working time in its entirety. This ruling seems to have come as a surprise to the Member States and the Commission alike and plans were made to counter the ruling. Since then the ECJ has confirmed the approach it took in SIMAP in several cases. However, in Dellas the Advocate General called upon the ECJ to change its definition of working time in order to exclude time spent on-call and thus anticipate the will of the legislators. The opinion of the Advocate General in Dellas, but also the reactions to the judgments by other political actors, and the fact that the Council of Ministers finally reached a political agreement on a new text for the Directive, make the evolution of the Working Time Directive of particular interest.