The text below is copied word for word from Publications Office of the European Union, EUR-Lex, as it read on 18 October 2026.
Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that, where the working day is longer than six hours, every worker is entitled to a rest break, the details of which, including duration and the terms on which it is granted, shall be laid down in collective agreements or agreements between the two sides of industry or, failing that, by national legislation.
This is the text of Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time as it stood on 18 October 2026 (checked by Omnikit on 18 October 2026). It may have changed since; the current text is at EUR-Lex.