A new labor agreement in France bans tech and consultancy employees from doing work on their smartphones after 6 p.m. 

The binding contract, forged between two trade unions and a group of management, engineering and consulting firms, amends a 1999 agreement that established the country's 35-hour work week. Under the new regulations, staff must turn their phones off after 6 each evening, Les Echos reported. Officials are calling the stipulation a "duty to disconnect communication tools at a distance," that ensures citizens observe laws on minimum rest times and maximum work hours.

At least a million employees in France's technology and consultancy fields will be affected by the new contract, which covers the country's Facebook, Google, Deloitte and PwC sites. Staff members can't log onto their work emails on computers during this nationally mandated time of rest either, the Guardian reported, Thursday.

"This agreement brings new rights," trade union representative Yvan Beraud told Les Echos, adding that the respective organizations spent over six months negotiating the new rules.

According to Syntec CEO Max Balensi, the effort aims to ease pressure for each company's workers.

"Our goal was to legally secure day packages in our businesses, which are dominated by digital labor relations," Balensi said.

Companies have the option of waiving their participation in the new agreement, as the clause is not a requirement for all companies.

Guardian reporter Lucy Mangan lamented England's lack of relaxation-enforcing legislation this week.

"While we poor, pallid, cowering Brits scurry about, increasingly cowed by the threat of recession-based redundancy and government measures that privilege bosses' and shareholder comfort...the continentals are clocking off," Mangan said. "While we're staring down the barrel of another late one/extra shift/all-nighter, across the Channel they're...contemplating at least the second half of a cinq à sept [five to seven]."