33As a preliminary point it should be noted that Article 6(b) of Directive 2003/88 constitutes a rule of EU social law of particular importance from which every worker must benefit, since it is a minimum requirement necessary to ensure protection of his safety and health, which requires the Member States to fix a 48-hour limit for average weekly working time, a maximum which is expressly stated to include overtime, and from which, in the absence of the implementation in national law of the option provided for in Article 22(1) of the directive, no derogation whatsoever may be made concerning activities such as those of the fire-fighters at issue in the main proceedings, even with the consent of the worker concerned (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-397/01 to C-403/01 Pfeiffer and Others [2004] ECR I-8835, paragraphs 98 and 100, and Fuß, paragraphs 33 to 35 and 38).
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.