Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedDRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

AddedP9_TA(2024)0330

Changedon the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council improvingImproving working conditions in platform work

Removed(COM(2021)0762 – C90454/2021 – 2021/0414(COD))

AddedCommittee on Employment and Social Affairs

AddedPE731.497

AddedEuropean Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving working conditions in platform work (COM(2021)0762 – C9-0454/2021 – 2021/0414(COD))

▸5 unchanged paragraphs

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2021)0762),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 153(2), point (b), in conjunction with Article 153(1), point (b), and Article 16(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C9-0454/2021),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Added– having regard to the reasoned opinion submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the Swedish Parliament, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

Added– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 23 March 2022,

Added– having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 29 June 2022,

Added– having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the responsible committee under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 11 March 2024 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0301/2022),

Removed– having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment Report (SWD(2021)0396);

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

Added2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

RemovedRecital 1: (1) Pursuant to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union, the objectives of the Union are, amongst others, to promote the well-being of its peoples and to work for the sustainable development of Europe based on a balanced economic growth and a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress.

AddedP9_TC1-COD(2021)0414

RemovedRecital 2: (2) This Directive respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’). In particular, Article 31 of the Charter provides for the right of every worker to fair and just working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. Article 27 of the Charter protects the workers’ right to information and consultation within the undertaking. Article 8 of the Charter provides that everyone has the right to the protection of personal data as well as access to data which has been collected concerning him or her and the right to have it rectified. Article 12 of the Charter provides that everyone has the right to freedom of assembly and of association at all levels. Article 15 of the Charter recognises that everyone has the right to engage in work and to pursue a freely chosen or accepted occupation as well as to provide services. Article 16 of the Charter recognises the freedom to conduct a business. Article 21 of the Charter provides for the right to non-discrimination.

AddedPosition of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 24 April 2024 with a view to the adoption of Directive (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving working conditions in platform work

RemovedRecital 3: (3) Principle No 5 of the European Pillar of Social Rights (the ‘Pillar’), proclaimed at Gothenburg on 17 November 201753, provides that, regardless of the type and duration of the employment relationship, workers have the right to fair and equal treatment regarding working conditions, access to social protection and training; that, in accordance with legislation and collective agreements, the necessary flexibility for employers to adapt swiftly to changes in the economic context is to be ensured; and that innovative forms of work that ensure quality working conditions are to be fostered, that entrepreneurship and self-employment are to be encouraged and that occupational mobility is to be facilitated, thus reaffirming the right under Article 15 of the Charter, and that employment relationships that lead to precarious working conditions are to be prevented, including by prohibiting the abuse of atypical contracts. The Porto Social Summit of May 2021 welcomed the Action Plan accompanying the Social Pillar54 as guidance for its implementation.

Added(As an agreement was reached between Parliament and Council, Parliament's position corresponds to the final legislative act, Directive (EU) 2024/2831.)

RemovedRecital 3 a (new): (3a) Principle No 7 of the Pillar provides that workers have the right to be informed in writing at the start of employment about their rights and obligations resulting from the employment relationship, that prior to any dismissal, workers have the right to be informed of the reasons and be granted a reasonable period of notice and the right to access to effective and impartial dispute resolution and, in the case of unjustified dismissal, a right to redress, including adequate compensation. Principle No 10 of the Pillar provides that workers have the right to a high level of protection of their health and safety at work and the right to have their personal data protected in the employment context. Principle No 12 of the Pillar provides that regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship, workers, and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed, have the right to adequate social protection.

RemovedRecital 4: (4) Digitalisation is changing the world of work, improving productivity and enhancing flexibility. Innovation in digital tools can contribute to growth in times of crisis and recovery. New forms of digital interaction and new technologies in the world of work, including the trend towards remote working in many sectors, if well-regulated and implemented, could create opportunities for access to decent and quality jobs for people who traditionally lacked such access, including persons with disabilities. However, digitalisation also poses risks for employment and working conditions, for the health and safety of workers and for the protection of their fundamental rights, including the right to privacy, as well as for the effective implementation of applicable national labour and tax law thereby also putting the solidarity based social protection system for current and future generations under pressure. Algorithm-based technologies, including automated monitoring and decision-making systems, have enabled the emergence and growth of digital labour platforms but can produce power imbalances and opacity about decision-making, as well as technology-enabled surveillance which could exacerbate discriminatory practices and entail risks for privacy, workers´ health and safety and human dignity and may lead to adverse consequences for working conditions and the exploitation ofworkers.

RemovedRecital 5: (5) Platform work is performed by individuals through the digital infrastructure of digital labour platforms that provide a service to their customers. It is provided, at least in part, at a distance through electronic means, such as a website or a mobile application, which can even be invisible to the client because it is integrated into the website used by the recipient of the service. It occurs in a wide variety of fields and is characterised by a high level of heterogeneity in the types of digital labour platform, the sectors covered and activities carried out as well as in the profiles of individuals performing platform work. By means of the algorithms and artificial intelligence, the digital labour platforms supervise, monitor and evaluate, to a lesser or greater extent – depending on their business model – the performance of the work, its remuneration and the relationship between their customers and the persons performing the work as well as the persons themselves while performing work and, in some cases, also outside their working time, in breach of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and national data protection law. Traditional regulated liberal professions are in principle free from supervision, direction and control from any other undertaking. Platform work is mostly performed exclusively online through electronic tools (‘online platform work’) or in a hybrid way combining an online communication process with a subsequent activ…

RemovedRecital 6: (6) Platform work can provide opportunities for employment and for accessing the labour market more easily, especially for vulnerable groups, gaining additional income through a secondary activity or enjoying some flexibility in the organisation of working time. Most persons performing platform work have another job or another source of income and tend to be low paid1a. Particular attention should be given to young people by ensuring that they enjoy the highest level of social protection when performing platform work. At the same time, platform work brings challenges, as it can result in the unpredictability of working hours and blur the boundaries between employment relationship and self-employed activity, and the responsibilities of employers and workers. Misclassification of the employment status has consequences for the persons affected, as it is to restrict access to existing labour and social rights. It can also lead to labour exploitation, unfair competition, in particular affecting SMEs , and an uneven playing field with respect to businesses that classify their workers correctly, and it has implications for Member States’ industrial relations systems, their tax base and the coverage and sustainability of their social protection systems. While such challenges are broader than platform work, they are particularly acute and pressing in the platform economy. / 1a Commission staff working document, Impact Assessment Report, Accompanying the Proposal for a Directive of the…

RemovedRecital 6 a (new): (6a) The labour and social protection legislation of most Member States is generally unprepared for the challenges of the digital world and, in particular, the digitalised labour market, which causes grave risks both to people who are engaged in digitally based work and to existing solidarity-based healthcare and social security models. If not tackled appropriately, those risks might jeopardise the European social model and the goals of the Pillar, whereas technological progress might also provide the solutions for adaptation of the European social model to the realities of the 21st century. Therefore, the proposed solutions should help protect the situation of persons performing platform work and improve their working conditions.

RemovedRecital 7: (7) Court cases in several Member States have shown the persistence of misclassification of the employment status in certain types of platform work, in particular in sectors where digital labour platforms exert a certain degree of direction or control over the remuneration and performance of work. While digital labour platforms frequently classify persons working through them as self-employed or ‘independent contractors’, many courts have found that the platforms exercise de facto direction and control over those persons, often integrating them in their main business activities and unilaterally determining the level of remuneration. Those courts have therefore reclassified purportedly self-employed persons as workers employed by the platforms. However, national case law has resulted in diverse outcomes and digital labour platforms have adapted their business model in various ways, thus increasing the lack of legal certainty over the employment status as well as hampering a level playing field both within the internal market and between digital labour platforms and traditional businesses.

RemovedRecital 8: (8) Automated monitoring and decision-making systems powered by algorithms increasingly replace functions that managers usually perform in businesses, such as allocating tasks, pricing of individual assignments and working time, giving instructions, evaluating the work performed, providing incentives or imposing sanctions. Digital labour platforms in particular use such algorithmic systems as a standard way of organising and managing platform work through their infrastructure. Persons performing platform work subject to such algorithmic management often do not have access to information on how the algorithms work, which personal data are being used and how their behaviour affects decisions taken by automated systems. Workers’ representatives, representatives of persons performing platform work, and labour inspectorates and competent supervisory authorities do not have access to this information either. Moreover, persons performing platform work often do not know the reasons for decisions taken or supported by automated systems and lack the possibility to obtain an explanation for those decisions, to discuss those decisions with a contact person or to contest them and to seek rectification and, where relevant, redress. Persons performing platform work and their representatives often do not receive timely information or the opportunity to discuss, to be effectively consulted, negotiate and to review the algorithmic systems that nonetheless have a direct impact on their working …

RemovedRecital 9: (9) When platforms operate in several Member States or across borders, it is often unclear where the platform work is performed and by whom, especially online based platform work. Also, national authorities do not have easy access to data on digital labour platforms, including the number of persons performing platform work, their employment status, and their working conditions. This complicates the enforcement of applicable national and European rules, including in respect of labour and tax law and social protection.

RemovedRecital 9 a (new): (9a) The number of platforms active in the Union increased from 463 in 2016 to 516 in March 2021. The platform economy in the Union increased almost fivefold during the same period, from an estimated EUR 3,4 billion in 2016 to about EUR 14 billion in 2020. The majority of activity of such platforms relates to taxi and food delivery services, both of which were strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (- 35% and +125%, respectively). Platforms that have their origin outside the Union play an important role in the Union’s platform economy.

RemovedRecital 10: (10) A body of legal instruments provides for minimum standards in working conditions and labour rights across the Union. This includes in particular Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council55 on transparent and predictable working conditions, Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council56 on working time, Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council57 on temporary agency work, and other specific instruments on aspects such as health and safety at work, pregnant workers, work-life balance, fixed-term work, part-time work, posting of workers, information and consultation of workers, among others. Those legal instruments have been interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) in particularly relevant case law, according to which ‘stand-by’ time, during which the worker's opportunities to carry out other activities are significantly restricted, is to be regarded as working time57a. The interpretation of the Court of Justice is particularly relevant for platform workers who spend 8,9 hours per week57b doing unpaid tasks, such as researching tasks, waiting for assignments, participating in contests to get assignments and reviewing work ads, which is not accounted for as working time when they are incorrectly classified as self-employed. While those instruments provide a level of protection to workers, they do not apply to genuinely self-employed persons. / 57a Judgement of the…

RemovedRecital 11: (11) Social protection is a solidarity-based safety net that is beneficial not only to the individual but also to society as a whole. Council Recommendation 2019/C 387/0158 on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed recommends Member States to take measures ensuring formal and effective coverage, adequacy and transparency of social protection schemes for all workers and self-employed. Member States currently have varying degrees of providing social protection to the self-employed. It is essential to ensure, and where necessary extend, access to social protection to persons performing platform work including for people transitioning from one status to another in order to ensure the portability of accumulated social rights and entitlements.

RemovedRecital 12: (12) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Councilensures the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, and in particular provides certain rights and obligations as well as safeguards concerning lawful, fair and transparent processing of personal data, including with regard to automated individual decision-making. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council60 promotes fairness and transparency for ‘business users’ using online intermediation services provided by operators of online platforms. The European Commission has proposed further legislation laying down harmonised rules for providers and users of artificial intelligence systems61, which will apply without prejudice to the more specific rules set out in this Directive. / (deleted)

RemovedRecital 13: (13) While existing or proposed Union legal acts provide for certain general safeguards, challenges in platform work require some further specific measures. In order to adequately frame the development of platform work in a sustainable manner, it is necessary for the Union to set new minimum standards in working conditions to address the challenges arising from platform work and to protect platform workers’ rights. Platform workers and, where applicable, persons performing platform work should be provided with a number of minimum rights, the correct determination of their contractual status as well as fair and just working conditions, promoting transparency, fairness, accountability and non-discrimination, and preventing health and safety risks in algorithmic management, improving transparency in platform work, including in cross-border situations, and ensuring the right to bargain collectively in accordance with national law and practice. This should be done with a view to improving legal certainty, creating a level playing field between digital labour platforms and offline providers of services and supporting the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the Union. In order to achieve this, persons working via a digital labour platform should be correctly classified in relation to their contractual status in order to access the applicable national labour and social protection law.

RemovedRecital 14: (14) The Commission has undertaken a two-stage consultation of the social partners, in accordance with Article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on the improvement of working conditions in platform work. There was no agreement among the social partners to enter into negotiations with regard to those matters. It is, however, important to take action at Union level in this area by adapting the current legal framework to the emergence of platform work and of the use of automated monitoring and decision-making systems.

RemovedRecital 15: (15) In addition, the Commission held extensive exchanges with relevant stakeholders, including digital labour platforms, associations of persons performing platform work, the social partners, experts from academia, Member States and international organisations and representatives of civil society.

RemovedRecital 16: (16) This Directive should apply to persons performing platform work in the Union who have, or who based on an assessment of facts may be deemed to have, an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State, with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice. This should include situations where the employment status of the person performing platform work is not clear, so as to allow correct determination of that status. The provisions on algorithmic management which are related to the processing of personal data should also apply to genuinely self-employed persons and to other persons performing platform work in the Union who do not have an employment relationship.

RemovedRecital 17 a (new): (17a) Self-employed intermediary persons covered by Council Directive 86/653/EEC1a, who have continuing authority to negotiate the sale or the purchase of goods on behalf of another person or to negotiate and conclude such transactions on behalf of and in the name of that person, should not fall within the scope of this Directive, provided that a digital labour platform does not organise the work of commercial agents or intermediates between such commercial agents and their principals. / 1a Council Directive 86/653/EEC on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents (OJ L 382, 31.12.1986, p.17).

RemovedRecital 17 b (new): (17b) Taxi dispatch services, as regulated under national law and practice, can be distinguished from ride hailing digital labour platforms, when they are merely an ‘add-on’ to a pre-existing service and only connect genuinely self-employed licensed taxi drivers with their customers, sending the communications received from persons seeking a taxi service to licensed taxi drivers, provided that they do not exert any type of control or direction, in accordance with this Directive, over the licensed taxi drivers, namely that, inter alia, the service provider does not set and collect the fare for the journey and does not have control over the quality of the vehicles or over the drivers and their performance of the work. Self-employed taxi drivers are usually free to choose how to generate their turnover due to the rights typically received with their license, such as the right to access clients freely by means of street-hailing, dedicated public taxi stops or equivalent ways.

RemovedRecital 17 c (new): (17c) Crowdwork can be defined as the organising of outsourcing or allocation of tasks potentially provided to a large pool of customers or employers, through online platforms. Crowdwork shares many similarities with other forms of non-standard employment such as temporary work, part-time work or temporary agency work. It is typically performed over the internet through a technological intermediary which is often a platform. Microwork or crowdwork platforms coordinate small online tasks. Those microtask platforms are a type of online digital labour platform that provide businesses and other clients with access to a large, flexible workforce (a “crowd”) for the completion of small tasks that can be completed remotely using a computer and internet connection. Tasks are distributed to a large number of individuals - the so-called crowd - who can perform individual activities asynchronously and remotely via their personal computers. Digital labour platforms organising crowdwork should fall within the scope of this Directive.

RemovedRecital 18: (18) Digital labour platforms differ from other online platforms in that they organise the work performed by individuals at request of a recipient of a service or by the allocation of work through an open call, one-off or repeated, through electronic means, such as a website or a mobile application. Organising work performed by individuals should imply at a minimum a role in matching the demand with the supply of labour by an individual who has a contractual relationship with the digital labour platform, irrespective of the contractual designation of the relationship between that individual and the natural or legal person providing the service, and who is available to perform a specific task, and can include other activities such as processing payments. Online platforms which do not organise the work performed by individuals but merely provide the means for advertising offers or requests for services or aggregating and displaying available service providers in a specific area, without any further involvement, should not be considered a digital labour platform. The definition of digital labour platforms should not include providers of a service whose purpose is to exploit or share assets, such as short-term rental of accommodation or to resell goods.

RemovedRecital 18 a (new): (18a) The frequent misclassification of persons performing platform work, together with the lack of a common workplace where platform workers can get to know and communicate with each other, including for the purpose of defending their interests against the employer, make the phenomenon of company trade unions, or workers’ representatives that are established or controlled by, and in the interests of, the employer rather than those the workers1a, particularly serious in platform work. Such company trade unions or workers’ representatives are contrary to Article 2 of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No 98 and to Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1b. When establishing or implementing practical arrangements for information and consultation, employers and the workers’ representatives should work in a spirit of cooperation and with due regard for their reciprocal rights and obligations, taking into account the interests both of the undertaking or establishment and of the workers. Digital labour platforms should ensure, together with the most representative trade unions, that elections for workers’ representatives comply with fundamental rights and freedoms and are in accordance with applicable national law and practice. / 1a Eurofound definition, https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/company-union / 1b Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002…

RemovedRecital 18 b (new): (18b) Social dialogue and collective bargaining are of utmost importance for achieving the goals of thisDirective. The exclusive prerogatives of trade unions should be preserved, such as their right to participate in collective bargaining and to conclude collective agreements. The rights and prerogatives of trade union and other workers’ representatives set out in this Directive should be ensured and respected in line with ILO conventions1a as well as the Council of Europe’s European Social Charter. / 1a In particular, Convention No 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, ILO Convention No 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, and having due regard to ILO Convention No 135 on Workers’ Representatives, ILO Convention No 151 on Labour Relations (Public Service), ILO Convention No 154 on Collective Bargaining and the related ILO Recommendations.

RemovedRecital 18 c (new): (18c) Automated decision-making and monitoring systems should include any computing mechanism that uses computer science techniques or data sets which can influence working conditions, the organisation of labour, and enable problem-solving actions or recommendations that have a significant impact on the persons performing platform work. Such automated decision-making includes, inter alia,monitoring, performance evaluation, individual profiling, and the assignment of tasks. The use of computer-based applications for the exchange of messages (such as emails) is, in principle, regarded as a means of communication and thus does not imply that those applications are automated decisions per se.

RemovedRecital 19: (19) A person performing platform work may be either a platform worker or a genuinely self-employed person. In order to combat false self-employment in platform work and to facilitate the correct determination of the employment status, Member States should have effective procedures in place to prevent and address misclassification of the employment status of persons performing platform work. The aim of those procedures should be to ensure the correct determination of the employment status, ascertaining the existence of an employment relationship as defined by national and applicable international law, collective agreements or practice with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice, and, where such employment relationship exists, to ensure full compliance with Union law applicable to workers as well as national labour law, collective agreements and social protection rules. Where self-employment – as defined at national level – is the correct employment status, rights and obligations pursuant to that status should apply.

RemovedRecital 20: (20) In its case law, the Court of Justice has established criteria for determining the status of a worker62 . The interpretation by the Court of Justice of those criteria should be taken into account in the implementation of this Directive. The abuse of the status of self-employed persons, as defined in national law, either at national level or in cross-border situations, is a form of falsely declared work that is frequently associated with undeclared work. False self-employment occurs when a person is declared to be self-employed while fulfilling the conditions characteristic of an employment relationship, in order to avoid certain legal or fiscal obligations, creating a situation of unfair competition in respect of law-abiding companies. Such persons should fall within the scope of this Directive.

RemovedRecital 22: (22) Where the existence of an employment relationship is established based on facts, the party or parties acting as employer should be clearly identified, fulfil all the obligations resulting from their role as employer under national law and relevant national or sectoral collective agreements applicable to the sector of activity, which is to be determined by Member States in cooperation with the social partners, in accordance with national law and practice.

RemovedRecital 23: (23) Ensuring correct determination of the employment status should not prevent the improvement of working conditions of genuinely self-employed persons performing platform work. Collective bargaining is a key tool by which to improve the working conditions of persons performing platform work, irrespective of the contractual designation of the relationship and should be encouraged by the Commission and Member States. The Commission communication of 30 September 2022 containing Guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons can, to that end, serve as useful guidance without prejudice to national law and practice regarding the scope and form of collective representation and provided that those agreements cover genuinely self-employed persons. Member States should take measures to ensure effective protection to persons performing platform work especially female workers, as well as the most vulnerable workers, young workers, older workers, workers in the informal economy, migrant workers and workers with disabilities.

RemovedRecital 24: (24) When digital labour platforms supervise or exert some sort of control over certain elements of the performance of work, they act like employers in an employment relationship. Direction and control, or subordination, is an essential element of the definition of an employment relationship in the Member States and in the case-law of the Court of Justice. Therefore, the contractual relationships between persons performing platform work and the digital labour platform should be deemed, by virtue of a legal presumption, to be an employment relationship. National authorities are to apply the presumption when they consider that there might be incorrect classification of persons performing platform work. The presumption should also be applied when a person performing platform work or a trade union acting on behalf or in support of several persons performing platform work dispute their classification in administrative or legal proceedings. The legal presumption should apply in all relevant administrative procedures and administrative and legal proceedings and should benefit the person performing platform work. Authorities in charge of verifying the compliance with or enforcing relevant legislation, such as labour inspectorates, social protection bodies or tax authorities, should apply the presumption. Member States should put in place a national framework to reduce litigation and increase legal certainty that ensures the correct classification of persons performing platform work f…

RemovedRecital 25: (25) The authorities and competent institutions determining, based on an objective assessment, the correct classification of persons performing platform work regarding the existence of an employment relationship as defined by the applicable law, collective agreements or practice in force in the Member State in question, with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice, should be guided by factual elements indicating that the digital labour platform exerts control and direction over the performance of work. Those elements should be inspired by Union and national case law as well as by the ILO Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No 198) and take into account national concepts of the employment relationship, and its constant evolution, also following the evolution of automated monitoring and decision-making systems. Among the concrete elements that can indicate that the digital labour platform exerts control and direction over the performance of work, there are those showing that the digital labour platform, for instance: determines in practice the working conditions or the remuneration or both; issues periodic payments to the worker; requires the respect of rules with regard to appearance or conduct; gives instructions on how the work is to be performed; prevents the person performing platform work from developing business contacts with potential clients, including via controlling or restricting the communication between the person performing platform work a…

RemovedRecital 26: (26) Effective implementation of the legal presumption through appropriate measures is essential to ensure legal certainty and transparency for all parties involved. Such measures should include disseminating information to the public, developing comprehensive guidance in the form of concrete and practical recommendations, strengthening controls, cooperation between different national authorities, mechanisms for persons performing platform work and digital labour platforms to consult relevant authorities and field inspections. These measures should take into account the specific situation of SMEs in the sustainable development of digital labour platforms. In the interest of fairness, the legal presumption should not have as a consequence that some digital labour platforms incorporate a subcontracting undertaking between the platform and the service providing persons in order to circumvent the obligations set out in this Directive. The digital labour platform of which the employer is a subcontractor should be held liable, in addition to or in the place of the employer, for any infringement of the platform workers' rights provided for in this Directive, including with respect to any outstanding remuneration and contributions due to the common funds or institutions of the social partners.

RemovedRecital 26 a (new): (26a) In order to ensure that labour inspections are carried out effectively, Member States should have sufficient labour inspectors, in accordance with ILO Convention No 81 on Labour Inspection and ILO Report III on the 95th International Labour Conference in 2006, which recommend that there be one labour inspector per 10 000 workers. Member States should determine, every year, a national target for the number of inspections to be carried out in respect of the sectors of activity in which digital labour platforms operate in order to ensure the correct classification of workers. The reclassification of a person performing platform work from self-employed to platform worker should immediately generate an inspection of relevant authorities in order to rapidly verify the status of the other persons performing platform work for the same digital labour platform.