EU drivers’ hours and rest periods
Professional drivers in the EU operate under Regulation (EC) 561/2006, which sets strict limits on driving time and mandatory rest periods. The rules are enforced through the digital tachograph in every commercial vehicle above 3.5 tonnes.
If your dispatcher doesn’t respect these limits, the consequences range from fines per driver per day to losing the operator’s licence. Planning around them is not optional.
The core limits
| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Daily driving time | Max 9 hours (can be extended to 10 hours twice per week) |
| Weekly driving time | Max 56 hours |
| Two-week driving time | Max 90 hours |
| Daily rest | Min 11 hours per 24h period (can be reduced to 9h, three times between weekly rests) |
| Weekly rest | Min 45 hours (can be reduced to 24h every other week, with compensation) |
| Break during driving | After 4.5h driving: at least 45 minutes break (or 15 + 30 min split) |
Multi-day and team driving
- A driver can split daily rest as 3 + 9 hours, with the 9-hour block uninterrupted.
- Team driving (two drivers in the cab) allows up to 21 hours of vehicle operation per day, with each driver respecting their own limits.
- Ferry and train derogation allows daily rest to be interrupted by boarding/disembarking.
What this means for planning
A planner has to fit each trip inside a driving + working + rest envelope:
- Driving time = time the wheels are turning.
- Other working time = loading, unloading, paperwork, waiting at customer.
- Rest = non-working time, in or out of the vehicle.
Both driving time and total working time (under the Working Time Directive, max 48 hours/week average) constrain what you can promise a customer.
Common planning mistakes
- Counting only driving time, not loading/unloading. Loading time eats into the 9-hour driving window through the daily working-time limit.
- Forgetting the 4.5-hour break rule. A 200-km direct trip is fine; a 600-km trip needs a built-in break.
- Ignoring weekly accumulation. A driver close to 56h cannot legally start a long trip on Friday.
- No buffer for traffic. Tight schedules force drivers to choose between law and contract.
Exemptions
Regulation 561 doesn’t apply to:
- Vehicles with max mass ≤ 3.5 tonnes (different national rules can apply).
- Vehicles in non-commercial use.
- Some specialised activities (emergency services, road maintenance, etc.).
National rules can be stricter; always check the country of operation.
What a TMS should do about it
A TMS can’t replace the tachograph or driver discipline, but it can:
- Show driver hours alongside the dispatch board so planners see who is available.
- Warn when a planned trip would violate 561.
- Sync with tachograph software to read actual driving time, not just planned.
- Block assignments that would clearly breach limits.
Routix integrates with telematics and tachograph providers via the API.
Related concepts
See this in Routix
To apply these limits in live planning, start on www.routix.com and continue to Dispatch plus the API integrations around telematics and tachograph data. That is the practical Routix setup for checking availability before assigning a trip.
