2. Offshore workers

For offshore workers, Member States may use the derogations provided in Article 17(3), since they are available for ‘activities where the worker’s place of work and his place of residence are distant from one another, including offshore work’. In such cases, the workers remain entitled to equivalent compensatory rest periods or appropriate protection, as outlined in part B. However, in addition to these derogations and as an exception to Article 19 on the derogations from the reference period for calculating the maximum weekly working time, Article 20 also allows for a reference period of 12 months for workers who mainly perform offshore work. Member States may set this extended reference period for objective or technical reasons or reasons concerning the organisation of work, on condition that employers’ and employees’ representatives are consulted and that the general principles relating to the protection of the safety and health of workers are complied with. This flexible approach to rest periods for offshore workers aimed in particular to allow ‘shift systems based on 2 shifts × 12 hours × 14 days to continue and to give adequate recognition to the international and seasonal nature of the industry’s working patterns by allowing an annualised calculation of working hours’ (418). An assessment of these specific provisions was carried out in 2006 and concluded that they were adequate for this sector (419).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.