Brussels to enforce 48-hour week

British employers could be forced to put in place a maximum 48-hour week unless it is made easier for staff to impose a limit on their hours, officials at the European Commission say.

The Commission is expected to criticise later this month what it perceives as Britain's abuse of the "opt-out" clause, which was created after Whitehall insisted workers should be allowed to forego the 48-hour limit set by the EU workingtime directive of 1993.

The tough line taken by some Commission officials was represented by Anna Diamantopoulou, the EU commissioner responsible for employment policy. She said: " The way [British] employers have implemented the opt-out is a very abusive one".

Her words are likely to alarm the British Government, which yesterday still had hopes that the opt-out would remain intact. Changes to the directive - including any proposal by the Commission to end the optout - would need backing from a qualified majority of EU states. John Cridland, deputy director-general of the CBI, the employers' organisation, warned that the loss of the optout-would "seriously call into question the EU's commitment to EU competitiveness".

The Government is understood to be considering practical measures to remove abuses of the directive, in an effort to pre-empt the Commission's hardline stance.

These would include stopping employers from dismissing prospective employees for refusing to sign the opt-out, and forcing employers to ask individual staff regularly whether they want to stand by earlier opt-out agreements or instead "opt in".

Business leaders are expected to accept the tightening up of rules to prevent alleged abuses, though with varying degrees of reluctance.

But Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, today said: "The real solution is to end the opt-out altogether. More than 48 hours is too much work for anyone."