2.

Derogations may be adopted by means of laws, regulations or administrative provisions or by means of collective agreements or agreements between the two sides of industry provided that the workers concerned are afforded equivalent periods of compensatory rest or that, in exceptional cases in which it is not possible, for objective reasons, to grant such equivalent periods of compensatory rest, the workers concerned are afforded appropriate protection: 2.1. from Articles 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16: in the case of activities where the worker's place of work and his place of residence are distant from one another or where the worker's different places of work are distant from one another; in the case of security and surveillance activities requiring a permanent presence in order to protect property and persons, particularly security guards and caretakers or security firms; in the case of activities involving the need for continuity of service or production, particularly: services relating to the reception, treatment and/or care provided by hospitals or similar establishments, residential institutions and prisons; dock or airport workers; press, radio, television, cinematographic production, postal and telecommunications services, ambulance, fire and civil protection services; gas, water and electricity production, transmission and distribution, household refuse collection and incineration plants; industries in which work cannot be interrupted on technical grounds; research and development activities; agriculture; where there is a foreseeable surge of activity, particularly in: agriculture; tourism; postal services; 2.2. from Articles 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16: in the circumstances described in Article 5 (4) of Directive 89/391/EEC; in cases of accident or imminent risk of accident; 2.3. from Articles 3 and 5: in the case of shift work activities, each time the worker changes shift and cannot take daily and/or weekly rest periods between the end of one shift and the start of the next one; in the case of activities involving periods of work split up over the day, particularly those of cleaning staff.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.