The text below is copied word for word from Publications Office of the European Union, EUR-Lex, as it read on 18 October 2026.
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks in accordance with the conditions for entitlement to, and granting of, such leave laid down by national legislation and/or practice.
2. The minimum period of paid annual leave may not be replaced by an allowance in lieu, except where the employment relationship is terminated.
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.