Employment relationship
Driving times and rest periods
The provisions on driving times and rest periods for drivers are the same across the whole of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA). Each Member State enforces the regulations in its own territory by performing inspections on the road and on companies’ premises.
Companies’ compliance with the rules on driving times and rest periods is enforced by occupational safety and health authorities.
The EU driving and rest time rules do not apply to those drivers for whom using a tachograph is not mandatory. These drivers are governed by the Finnish Working Hours Act and any applicable collective agreement.
General information on topic
As a rule, the European Driving Time and Rest Periods Regulation applies to the carriage by road
- of goods where the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle, including any trailer or semi-trailer, exceeds 3.5 tonnes, or
- of passengers by vehicles that are constructed or permanently adapted for carrying more than nine persons including the driver, and are intended for that purpose.
However, the Regulation does not apply to specialised vehicles not intended for the transport of goods or passengers. Such vehicles include, for example, mobile cranes and concrete pump trucks that do not themselves carry goods.
A comprehensive list of exemptions from the mandatory use of a tachograph is given under Exceptions.
Instructions for employee
You must let your employer know immediately of any shortcomings in a vehicle or in your work environment that you cannot correct yourself.
You should also keep your employer up to date on any other work that you do either in or outside of the transport sector so that your employer can be sure of your compliance with the rules on driving times and rest periods.
You need to hand over your driver card to your employer at least once every three weeks for them to upload your digital data. The data stored on temporary drivers’ cards also need to be uploaded.
Keep the following with you when driving:
- your driver card
- your record sheets from the past 28 days
- your personal driver’s log, if you have one, and
- any manual records and printouts made as required under the European Tachograph Regulation and the European Driving Time and Rest Periods Regulation.
You should hand over your record sheets to your employer as soon as you no longer need to keep them with you. Your employer has a legal duty to provide you with copies of the sheets if you want to keep copies for yourself.
Remember to use the mode switch on the tachograph and, in the case of a digital tachograph, the country code and any special operational modes. Annual leaves and sickness absences must also be entered to record sheets or recorded manually to a driver card.
Each driver has their own driver card. Never lend your card to another driver or use another driver’s card.
Always make sure that you are well rested before you start driving.
Instructions for employer
It is the employer’s duty to plan their drivers’ shifts so that they are able to comply with the rules on driving times and rest periods. The employer is also responsible for providing their drivers with appropriate instructions concerning the use of tachographs and the rules on driving times and rest periods. The employer must ensure that the rules are complied with and that tachographs are used correctly.
It is also the employer’s responsibility to ensure that a vehicle equipped with a digital tachograph is not given to a driver who does not have a valid driver card.
Employers must copy the driving time and rest period data from their vehicles’ digital tachographs in order to monitor compliance with the rules on driving times and rest periods, to ensure that the rights and responsibilities associated with employment relationships are being adhered to and to be able to coordinate transport assignments. The data from all vehicles in Finland must be copied at least once every two months and whenever a vehicle is sold or a digital tachograph uninstalled. Employers must copy the driving time and rest period data from each driver card at least once every three weeks for all the weeks during which the driver in question was at work. The driving time and rest period data from the driver cards of any temporary drivers also need to be copied. Data from vehicles that are based abroad must be copied upon each vehicle’s entry to Finland. Each driver’s record sheets must be collected and kept in a chronological order. Driving time and rest period data must be kept for a period of at least one year.
Employers who use drivers hired through a temporary agency or a subcontractor must perform the checks required under the Finnish Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out.
Legislation
Road Transport Act (729/2018, in Finnish)
- Article 3 – Exemptions from the application of the Regulation
- Article 6 – Daily and weekly driving times
- Article 7 – Breaks
- Article 8 – Daily and weekly rest periods
- Article 10 – Liability of transport undertakings
- Article 12 – Extension of driving time
- Article 27 – Use of driver cards
- Article 32 – Correct use of tachographs
- Article 33 – Responsibility of transport undertakings
- Article 34 – Use of driver cards and record sheets
Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/403
- Section 7 – Exceptions from the use of a tachograph
- Section 8 – Certain exceptions from the driving and rest time rules
- Section 8, subsection 3 – Night work
- Section 9 – Daily working hours of a motor vehicle driver
- Section 18, subsection 2 – Maximum working hours
- Section 24, subsection 3 – Daily breaks
- Section 26 – The daily rest period of a motor vehicle driver
- Section 31 – Personal driver’s logs
- Section 34 – Derogations under collective agreements
- Section 44 – Violations of working hours regulations
Act on Transport Services (320/2017)
- Section 42 – Definitions of social legislation relating to road transport
- Section 43 – Social legislation relating to road transport
- Section 45 – Obligations of drivers with regard to the use of tachographs
- Section 46 – Obligations of employers and undertakings with regard to the use of tachographs
- Section 47 – Processing of tachograph data by undertakings
- Sections 49–52 – Maximum weekly working time, night work, breaks and working time records of self-employed drivers
Court decisions and precedents
The Supreme Court of Finland ruled on appeal proceedings brought by a motor vehicle driver in 2018 (KKO:2018:27, in Finnish) after the police fined him for a violation of social legislation relating to road transport on the grounds of his having failed to use a mandatory tachograph. The appeal was based on the driver’s argument that he had not been under an obligation to use a tachograph. The Court nevertheless found that the driver should have been using a tachograph.
The Supreme Court of Finland heard a case in 2011 (KKO:2011:4, in Finnish) that involved a police officer’s having been unable to print out information required under Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on recording equipment in road transport due to lack of paper in a lorry driver’s tachograph printer. The questions before the Court related to the obligation to ensure the availability of printouts and whether or not social legislation relating to road transport had been violated.
Related topics in Tyosuojelu.fi
- Employment relationship: Employment contract
- Employment relationship: Annual holidays
- Employment relationship: Termination of the employment relationship
- Employment relationship: Certificate of employment
- Working conditions: Threat of violence at work
- Occupational health and accidents: Providing occupational health care
- Grey economy: Contractor’s obligations and liability
- Employment relationship: Posted worker
Links to other websites
This website is part of the European Commission's Your Europe portal. Did you find what you were looking for?