Opinion of Advocate General Tesauro delivered on 20 January 1994

1 Original language: Italian.

2 OJ 1985 L 370, p. 1.

3 OJ 1985 L 370, p. 8.

4 Article 7(5) merely confirms what is already clear from the definition of rest in Article 1; since the breaks from driving required by Article 7(1) and 7(2) must be of 45 minutes duration and may in certain cases be replaced by breaks of at least 15 minutes each, distributed over the driving period or immediately after this period, they are not normally of a duration equivalent to the minimum rest period.

5 Regulation (EEC) No 543/69 of the Council of 25 March 1969 on the harmonization of certain social legislation relating to road transport (OJ, English Special Edition 1969 (I), p. 170). A consolidated version of that regulation, as successively amended, has been published in OJ 1979 C 73, p. 1.

6 See, in this connection, the judgments in Case 69/74 Auditeur de Travail v Cagnon and Taquet [1975] ECR 171, in particular paragraphs 7 and 8, Case 65/76 Derycke [1977] ECR 29, in particular paragraphs 15 to 17, Case 47/79 Nehlsen v Bremen [1979] ECR 3639, in particular paragraphs 5 and 6, Case 133/83 Regina v Scott [1984] ECR 2863, Joined Cases 91/84 and 92/84 DPP v Hackett [1985] ECR 1139, in particular paragraphs 15 and 16, Case C-158/90 Nijs and Transport Vanschoonbeek-Matterne [1991] ECR I-6035, in particular paragraph 11, and in Case C-116/91 Licensing Authority South Eastern Traffic Area v British Gas [1992] ECR I-4071, in particular paragraphs 18 to 20.

7 See Advocate General Van Gerven's Opinion in Case C-116/92, currently before the Court, in which he considers the interpretation of Articles 7(1) and (2) of Regulation No 3820/85 relating to maximum periods of driving and to breaks in driving.