Example implementations include a method, apparatus and computer-readable medium of wireless communication over a sidelink between a first user equipment (UE) and a second UE. The first UE may identify a configuration for discontinuous reception (DRX) for direct link communications with a second UE. The first UE may determine a channel busy ratio (CBR) based on a plurality of CBR measurement occasions within a time window prior to a direct link transmission based on the configuration for DRX. The first UE may determine whether to perform a congestion control on the direct link transmission based on the CBR. The first UE may perform a direct link transmission subject to a channel occupancy ratio limit.