On Wednesday 6 January, the European Commission published an inception impact assessment as part of the process that aims at ensuring that EU competition rules do not stand in the way of collective bargaining for those who need it.
The Commission explained that digitisation is profoundly affecting the way people work, creating new opportunities in the labour markets. For example, an increasing number of people are engaging with platform work. However, digitisation can also create challenges for individuals and put pressure on working conditions, said the Commission. These challenges are also present in certain forms of self-employment outside the platform economy.
The European competition rules do not apply to collective bargaining by workers, but collective bargaining by self-employed people considered as ‘undertakings’ could be caught by competition rules.
Whilst it is not the task of competition policy to address the social challenges faced by vulnerable self-employed people, EU competition rules should not be an obstacle to collective negotiations or agreements that aim at improving the working conditions of these individuals.
In the inception impact assessment, the European Commission set out options to clarify that, provided that certain conditions are met, working conditions can be improved through collective agreements not only for employees, but also for those self-employed who need protection, in line with EU competition rules.
The inception impact assessment that has been published provides an opportunity for relevant stakeholders to comment on the form and scope of the initiative. Stakeholders are invited to provide input by 3 February 2021. A more detailed public consultation, based on a questionnaire, will be carried out in the first quarter of 2021.
Link to the impact study in question: http://bit.ly/39aGKJG (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)