Thats a hard question to answer, becuaseit depends on what the situation is and what type of fuse
If we are talking sustained overload, then a circuit breaker will certainly react faster than a semi-enclosed fuse, but then so will a cartridge fuse... I suspect the breaker will be faster than the cartridge fuse, but I don't think the standards require any difference... both will trip between 115% and 145% overload in the conventional time, but the breaker is 'probably' more sensitive.
If we are talking fault currents, then thats another can of worms, if you don't hit the Zs for the magnetic part then your circuit doesn't acheive 0.4 or 5 sec disconnection time... the thermal part will disconnect it sometime, but we can't really say when (but the manufacturer just might), with a fuse depending on what its feeding, if we are allowed 5s disconnection time, then we have a higher max zs to work to. So again the breaker is faster if Zs is in spec, but if its not, if you decided you only need 5s, for a fuse it might still comply, but for a breaker you're stuffed (the magnetic part trips in 0.1 seconds when it does, but if it doesn't, it doesn't!)
Now if we are talking about a fault current of large magnatude, then the fuse will probably be faster... the amount of energy needed to clear a fuse is more or less constant, and the bigger the fault, the faster it blows, but for a breaker, the contacts move at a more or less constant speed, regardless of fault current, meaning the let through energy rises in proportion to the square of the fault level
Ensuring total discrimination at all fault levels beween fuses and breakers isn't an easy task
As to the ratings, They changed just before BSEN60898 took over from BS3871, so that would put it as being the early '90s