The European Commission may pursue legal action against Malta for failing to inscribe rules related to working time – i.e., breaks, leave, and more –  in inland waterways transport into national law.

The Commission did this as part of its regular package of infringement decisions against member states that fail to comply with their obligations under EU law.

In Malta’s case, it didn’t incorporate the directive on working time in inland waterways transport into national law.

These rules implement a social partners agreement that regulates certain aspects of working time for workers employed onboard of vessels in the inland waterway transport sector.

The agreement specifically controls the duration of daily and weekly working time, rest periods, breaks, maximum working time during night-time, and annual leave.

By nature, a directive issued by the EU is binding on member states, meaning that they would have to implement its content into national law.

The Directive is to be implemented whether or not members have inland waterways on their territory.

This is done because the Commission believes that a uniform transposition of the rules by all states is necessary to ensure that contracts of workers on board vessels operating within the union’s territory are fully conforming with the provisions of the Directive.

Malta was handed a formal notice, alongside Greece and Cyprus, requesting more information and it has two months to send a detailed reply to the Commission and alert them of its national measures.

If they don’t, or if their response is “unsatisfactory”, then the Commission can decide to send a reasoned opinion – which is a formal request to comply with EU law.

If Malta still doesn’t comply, the Commission can refer the matter to the Court of Justice and if it finds that EU law has been breached, national authorities need to take action to comply with the court judgement.

Prior to this, if the state fails to communicate measures that implement the provisions of a directive in time, the Commission can ask the court to impose penalties.

Image taken from Malta Freeport of the  MSC Mette.

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