ABSTRACT
The British government, in United Kingdom v Council of Ministers, argued that such matters were an issue of subsidiarity and should be settled within Member States rather than by the Community. The Council argued that the justification for the Working Time Directive was a health and safety one and that the Community had competence in this field. The Working Time Regulations include the transposition of parts of the Young Workers’ Directive into national law. The justification for the Working Time Directive in 1993 was art. 118a EC, which stated at the time that: Member States shall pay particular attention to encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, as regards the health and safety of workers, and shall set as their objective the harmonisation of conditions in this area, while maintaining the improvements made. The Working Time Regulations 1998 have been amended on a number of occasions.
