The regulations implement the EC Directives on working time and in various respects young workers.

The regulations bristle with technical detail and this update does not purport to offer anything more than a selective and highly condensed introduction to an important new area of UK law.

Briefly though, the regulations provide workers with the right to:-- a limit on average weekly working hours of 48 (although individuals can choose to work longer);-- a limit on night workers' average normal daily hours of eight;-- health assessments for night workers;-- minimum daily and weekly rest periods;-- rest breaks at work;-- paid annual leave.The regulations provide adolescents (those older than minimum school leaving age but younger than 18) with different rights in respect of:-- health assessments for night work;-- minimum daily and weekly rest periods;-- rest breaks at work.The regulations apply to all 'workers', although various categories of person are excluded from their scope.

In essence, a worker for the purposes of the regulations is anyone who is not genuinely self-employed.

Those working in the following sectors are specifically excluded:-- doctors in training;-- air, road and sea transport;-- inland waterway and lake transport;-- sea fishing or other work at sea (ie, on oil rigs).However, the mere location of work in a transport facility such as an airport does not in itself necessarily mean that workers are excluded.The regulations allow for some of its measures to be adapted through agreement between the workers and employers so as to allow a degree of local flexibility.

There are three types of agreement which may be pertinent:-- collective agreement;-- workforce agreement;-- relevant agreement.A 'relevant agreement' is an agreement in writing which is legally binding between the worker and the employer; it may result from a collective or workforce agreement.The 'workforce agreement' is a new mechanism for employers to agree working time arrangement with workers.

The employer must, for instance, ensure that:-- The agreement is in writing and states the period for which it is to have effect (which cannot be in excess of five years);-- the agreement states whether it is to apply to all releva nt workers (if it is to apply only to a particular group, that group must be clearly defined);-- before the agreement is made, all workers to whom is applies receive copies of it and guidance to assist their understanding of it;-- the agreement is signed, before it comes into effect, either by the elected representatives of the relevant members of the workforce, or, if there are 20 or fewer workers in the organisation, either by the appropriate representatives or by a majority of the relevant members of the workforce.However, a workforce or collective agreement cannot be used to exclude the 48-hour limit on weekly work, an agreement with each individual worker is required.

Workers cannot contract out of their right to paid annual leave, although there are various rules as to determining the time when leave can be taken.The regulations offer wide-ranging safeguards including extension of the existing protections so as to ensure that workers are not treated adversely because they have asserted an entitlement under the regulations.Employment practitioners are already being inundated with questions concerning the law, although much of the small print is somewhat turgid, unfortunately there is no substitute for careful study of it.