GlossaryEN1 min readUpdated: Jun 18, 2026

Working Time Act for Driving Personnel

Transport companies, freight forwarders, and shippers bear responsibility for ensuring their driving personnel comply with legally prescribed driving and rest times.

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Last updated: 18 June 2026Published: 22 November 2025

Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006R0561

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Definition & Explanation

Transport companies, freight forwarders, and shippers bear responsibility for ensuring their driving personnel comply with legally prescribed driving and rest times. In European road transport, the primary framework is EU Regulation 561/2006, supplemented by national working time legislation that varies in scope across member states. Daily driving time is capped at nine hours as a rule – extendable to ten hours on up to two days per week – and drivers must take a daily rest period of at least eleven hours. Operators must retain records and produce them during roadside checks; infringements result in fines, driving bans, and, for repeat offences, revocation of the operator's licence. It is worth distinguishing between the driving time rules of Regulation 561/2006 and national working time acts, which additionally govern total working hours, night work, and breaks outside driving duties.