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2004 No. 756

CIVIL AVIATION

The Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004

  Made 11th March 2004 
  Laid before Parliament 19th March 2004 
  Coming into force 13th April 2004 

The Secretary of State for Transport, being a Minister designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[1] in relation to measures relating to the organisation of working time[2], in exercise of the powers conferred by that section hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement
     1. These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004 and shall come into force on 13th April 2004.

Scope
    
2. These Regulations apply to persons employed to act as crew members on board a civil aircraft flying for the purposes of public transport.

Interpretation
    
3. In these Regulations - 

and "work", "works" and "to work" shall be construed accordingly.

Entitlement to annual leave
     4.  - (1) A crew member is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks, or a proportion of four weeks in respect of a period of employment of less than one year.

    (2) Leave to which a crew member is entitled under this regulation - 

Health assessments
    
5.  - (1) An employer shall ensure that each crew member employed by him is entitled to a free health assessment before he commences his employment and thereafter at regular intervals of whatever duration may be appropriate in the case of the crew member.

    (2) Subject to paragraph (3), no person shall disclose a health assessment referred to in paragraph (1) made in respect of a crew member to any person other than that crew member without that crew member's consent in writing.

    (3) A registered medical practitioner who makes a health assessment referred to in paragraph (1) may advise the employer of the crew member in question that the crew member is suffering from health problems which the practitioner considers to be connected with the fact that the crew member works during night time.

    (4) Where - 

    (5) A health assessment referred to in paragraph (1) - 

    (6) For the purposes of this regulation, a crew member works during night time when he works at any time between the hours of 2.00 am and 4.59 am local mean time; and in this paragraph "local mean time" means the time to which a crew member is acclimatised for the purposes of a scheme.

Health and safety protection at work
    
6. An employer shall ensure that each crew member employed by him is at all times during the course of that employment provided with adequate health and safety protection and prevention services or facilities appropriate to the nature of his employment.

Pattern of work
    
7.  - (1) Where an employer intends to organise work according to a certain pattern he shall take into account the general principle of adapting work to the worker to the extent that is relevant to the objective of protecting workers' health and safety.

    (2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), in a case where an employer intends to organise work according to a certain pattern he shall - 

Provision of information
    
8.  - (1) When requested to do so by the CAA, an employer shall provide the CAA with such information as it may specify relating to the working patterns of crew members in his employ.

    (2) Any information which is generated by an employer relating to the working patterns of crew members shall be retained by the employer for a period of not less than two years.

Maximum annual working time
    
9. An employer shall ensure that in any month - 

Rest days
    
10.  - (1) Without prejudice to regulation 4, an employer shall ensure that all crew members employed by him are notified in writing as soon as possible of their right to rest days which shall be free of all employment duties including acting as a standby.

    (2) For the purposes of this regulation, rest days are - 

Enforcement
     11. The provisions of Schedule 2 to these Regulations shall apply in relation to the enforcement of the relevant requirements.

Offences
    
12.  - (1) Any person who fails to comply with any of the relevant requirements shall be guilty of an offence.

    (2) The provisions of paragraph (3) shall apply where an inspector is exercising or has exercised any power conferred by Schedule 2.

    (3) It is an offence for a person - 

    (4) Any person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) shall be liable - 

    (5) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (3)(b) or (d) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

    (6) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (3)(c) shall be liable - 

    (7) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (3)(a), (e) or (f) shall be liable - 

    (8) The provisions set out in regulations 13 to 17 shall apply in relation to the offences provided for in paragraphs (1) and (3).

Offences due to fault of other person
    
13. Where the commission by any person of an offence is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person shall be guilty of the offence, and a person may be charged with and convicted of the offence by virtue of this regulation whether or not proceedings are taken against the first mentioned person.

Offences by bodies corporate
    
14.  - (1) Where an offence committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

    (2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, the preceding paragraph shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

Restriction on institution of proceedings in England and Wales
    
15. Proceedings for an offence shall not be instituted in England or Wales except by an inspector or by, or with the consent of, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Prosecution by inspectors
    
16.  - (1) If authorised in that behalf by the CAA, an inspector may prosecute proceedings for an offence before a magistrates' court even though the inspector is not of counsel or a solicitor.

    (2) This regulation shall not apply in Scotland.

Power of court to order cause of offence to be remedied or, in certain cases, forfeiture
    
17.  - (1) This regulation applies where a person is convicted of an offence in respect of any matter which appears to the court to be a matter which it is in his power to remedy.

    (2) In addition to or instead of imposing any punishment, the court may order the person in question to take such steps as may be specified in the order for remedying the said matters within such time as may be fixed by the order.

    (3) The time fixed by an order under paragraph (2) may be extended or further extended by order of the court on an application made before the end of that time as originally fixed or as extended under this paragraph, as the case may be.

    (4) Where a person is ordered under paragraph (2) to remedy any matters, that person shall not be liable under these Regulations in respect of that matter in so far as it continues during the time fixed by the order or any further time allowed under paragraph (3).

Remedies
    
18.  - (1) A crew member may present a complaint to an employment tribunal that his employer has refused to permit him to exercise any right he has under regulation 4, 5(1), (4), 7(1) or 7(2)(b).

    (2) An employment tribunal shall not consider a complaint under this regulation unless it is presented - 

    (3) Where an employment tribunal finds a complaint under regulation 4, 5(1), (4), 7(1) or 7(2)(b) well-founded, the tribunal - 

    (4) The amount of the compensation shall be such as the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances having regard to - 



Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport


Tony McNulty
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Department for Transport

11th March 2004



SCHEDULE 1
Regulation 3


WORKFORCE AGREEMENTS


     1. An agreement is a workforce agreement for the purposes of these Regulations if the following conditions are satisfied - 

     2. For the purposes of this Schedule - 

     3. The requirements concerning elections referred to in paragraph 2 are that - 

     4. In this Schedule "employee" means an individual who has entered into or works under a contract of employment.



SCHEDULE 2
Regulation 11


ENFORCEMENT


Appointment of inspectors
     1.  - (1) The CAA may appoint as inspectors (under whatever title it may from time to time determine) such persons having suitable qualifications as it thinks necessary for carrying into effect these Regulations, and may terminate any appointment made under this paragraph.

    (2) Every appointment of a person as an inspector under this paragraph shall be made by an instrument in writing specifying which of the powers conferred on inspectors by these Regulations are to be exercisable by the person appointed; and an inspector shall in right of his appointment under this paragraph - 

    (3) So much of an inspector's instrument of appointment as specifies the powers which he is entitled to exercise may be varied by the CAA.

    (4) An inspector shall, if so required when exercising or seeking to exercise any power conferred on him by these Regulations, produce his instrument of appointment or a duly authenticated copy thereof.

Powers of inspectors
     2.  - (1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 and this paragraph, an inspector may for the purpose of carrying into effect these Regulations exercise the powers set out in sub-paragraph (2).

    (2) The powers of an inspector are the following, namely - 

    (3) No answer given by a person in pursuance of a requirement imposed under sub-paragraph (2)(e) shall be admissible in evidence against that person or the husband or wife of that person in any proceedings.

    (4) Nothing in this paragraph shall be taken to compel the production by any person of a document of which he would on grounds of legal professional privilege be entitled to withhold production on an order for discovery in an action in the High Court or, as the case may be, an order for the production of documents in an action in the Court of Session.

Improvement notices
     3. If an inspector is of the opinion that a person - 

he may serve on him a notice (in this Schedule referred to as "an improvement notice") stating that he is of that opinion, specifying the provision or provisions as to which he is of that opinion, giving particulars of the reasons why he is of that opinion, and requiring that person to remedy the contravention or, as the case may be, the matter occasioning it within such period (ending not earlier than the period within which an appeal against the notice can be brought under paragraph (6) as may be specified in the notice.

Prohibition notices
     4.  - (1) This paragraph applies to any activities which are being or are likely to be carried on by or under the control of any person, being activities to or in relation to which any of these Regulations apply or will, if the activities are so carried on, apply.

    (2) If as regards any activities to which this paragraph applies an inspector is of the opinion that, as carried on by or under the control of the person in question, the activities involve or, as the case may be, will involve a risk of serious personal injury, the inspector may serve on that person a notice (in this Schedule referred to as "a prohibition notice").

    (3) A prohibition notice shall - 

    (4) A direction contained in a prohibition notice in pursuance of sub-paragraph (3)(d) shall take effect - 

Provisions supplementary to paragraphs 3 and 4
     5.  - (1) In this paragraph "a notice" means an improvement notice or a prohibition notice.

    (2) A notice may (but need not) include directions as to the measures to be taken to remedy any contravention or matter to which the notice relates; and any such directions - 

    (3) Where an improvement notice or prohibition notice which is not to take immediate effect has been served - 

Appeal against improvement or prohibition notice
     6.  - (1) In this paragraph "a notice" means an improvement or prohibition notice.

    (2) A person on whom a notice is served may within 21 days from the date of its service appeal to an employment tribunal; and on such an appeal the tribunal may either cancel or affirm the notice and, if it affirms it, may do so either in its original form or with such modifications as the tribunal may in the circumstances think fit.

    (3) Where an appeal under this paragraph is brought against a notice within the period allowed under the preceding sub-paragraph, then - 

    (4) One or more assessors may be appointed for the purposes of any proceedings brought before an employment tribunal under this paragraph.

Power of the CAA to indemnify inspectors
     7. Where an action has been brought against an inspector in respect of an act done in the execution or purported execution of these Regulations and the circumstances are such that he is not legally entitled to require the CAA to indemnify him, then the CAA may, nevertheless, indemnify him against the whole or any part of any damages or costs or expenses which he may have been ordered to pay or may have incurred, if the CAA is satisfied that the inspector honestly believed that the act complained of was within his powers and that his duty as an inspector required or entitled him to do it.

Restrictions on disclosure of information
     8.  - (1) In this paragraph - 

    (2) Subject to the following sub-paragraph, no relevant information shall be disclosed without the consent of the person by whom it was furnished.

    (3) The preceding sub-paragraph shall not apply to - 

    (4) In the preceding sub-paragraph any reference to the Commission, the Executive, the CAA or a government department includes respectively a reference to an officer of that body, and also, in the case of a reference to the Commission, includes a reference to - 

    (5) A person to whom information is disclosed in pursuance of sub-paragraph (3) shall not use the information for a purpose other than - 

    (6) A person shall not disclose any information obtained by him as a result of the exercise of any power conferred by paragraph 2 (including in particular any information with respect to any trade secret obtained by him in any premises entered by him by virtue of any such power) except - 

In this sub-paragraph "the relevant consent" means, in the case of information furnished in pursuance of a requirement imposed under paragraph 2, the consent of the person who furnished it, and, in any other case, the consent of a person having responsibilities in relation to the premises where the information was obtained.

    (7) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding sub-paragraph an inspector shall, in circumstances in which it is necessary to do so for the purpose of assisting in keeping persons (or the representatives of persons) adequately informed about matters affecting their health, safety and welfare or working time, give to such persons or their representatives the following descriptions of information, that is to say - 

and, where an inspector does as aforesaid, he shall give the like information to the employer of the first-mentioned persons.

    (8) Notwithstanding anything in sub-paragraph (6), a person who has obtained such information as is referred to in that sub-paragraph may furnish to a person who appears to him to be likely to be a party to any civil proceedings arising out of any accident, occurrence, situation or other matter, a written statement of the relevant facts observed by him in the course of exercising any of the powers referred to in that sub-paragraph.



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)


These Regulations implement the provisions of Council Directive 2000/79/EC concerning the European Agreement on the Organisation of Working Time of Mobile Workers in Civil Aviation concluded by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the European Transport Worker's Federation (ETF), the European Cockpit Association (ECA), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) (OJ L 302, 1.12.2000, p. 57).

Regulations 5(2), 6, 7(2)(a) and 8 to 10 in these Regulations impose obligations enforceable by the Civil Aviation Authority; failure to comply is an offence. The obligations concern the wrongful disclosure of a health assessment, the maximum annual working time of crew members, the provision or crew members of adequate health and safety protection services and facilities at work along with adequate rest breaks to be given to crew members where work is organised in a certain pattern. Crew members are also entitled to a minimum number of rest days, free from all duties, in every calendar month and year and employers are obliged to provide information on the working patterns of crew members which must be kept for not less than two years. The term crew member is defined in regulation 3.

Regulations 4, 5(1), (4) and 7(1) and (2)(b) confer rights on crew members, enforceable by proceedings before employment tribunals. The rights establish a crew members' entitlement to annual leave, a free health assessment prior to starting work and at regular intervals thereafter as well as the right to be moved from night work to more suitable work if that assessment reveals health problems due to working at night. Employers are also obliged to consider adapting a crew member's work and offering him alternative work if he organises work according to a certain pattern.

The remaining regulations make provision for definitions, for medical practitioners to advise employers where an employee is suffering from health problems, for enforcement and remedies (regulations 3, 5(3), 11 to 18).

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been produced and a copy placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Department for Transport, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. Alternatively copies can be obtained from the Department for Transport's website which is at
www.dft.gov.uk.

A transposition note has been prepared and copies may be obtained from the Department for Transport, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR.


Notes:

[1] 1972 c. 68.back

[2] S.I. 1997/1174.back

[3] 1974 c. 37.back

[4] 1992 c. 52.back

[5] S.I. 1998/2795. Article 3 of this Order establishes the Health and Safety Executive of Northern Ireland which was previously known as the Health and Safety Agency for Northern Ireland which was established under article 12 of S.I. 1978/1039.back

[6] S.I. 2000/1562 to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.back

[7] S.I. 2000/1562 to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.back



ISBN 0 11 048909 8


  © Crown copyright 2004

Prepared 19 March 2004


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