Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2004
357 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Transport when the new EU regulation to replace the existing drivers’ hours rules, as set out in Regulation 3820/85 will be finally adopted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27080/04]
View answerAt the Transport Council in Brussels on 11 June last, the council reached political agreement on its common position on the Commission proposal to replace the existing drivers' hours rules.
Following this political agreement, the text is subject to finalisation by legal and language experts in all of the languages of the community before the common position is formally adopted. This is scheduled to take place at the Transport Council next December. The European Parliament will then consider the common position in its second reading of the proposal. There is a time limit of three months on the second reading after which a further three months is provided for the council to consider the outcome of the parliament's second reading.
If the council is unable to accept the outcome of the parliament's second reading then the conciliation procedure is invoked with a view to finding a compromise. The whole procedure leading to final adoption, assuming that an agreement can be reached between the council and parliament, is likely to take between six and 12 months.
