European Platform to enhance cooperation in tackling undeclared work

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted the report by Georgi PIRINSKI (S&D, BG) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing a European Platform to enhance cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading of the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Establishment of the Platform: a European Platform to enhance the cooperation at Union level in tackling undeclared work should be established.

The term ‘tackling undeclared work’ shall mean the prevention, deterrence and combating of undeclared work as well as encouraging and promoting declared work.

The Platform shall be composed of:

• one senior representative (as opposed to a single national contact point) nominated by each Member State, representing national enforcement bodies, and/or other actors involved in the tackling of undeclared work;
• a maximum of four representatives of cross-industry social partners organised at Union level nominated by the social partners themselves, equally representing both sides of industry.

Members have increased the number of stakeholders who may be actively involved in the meetings of the Platform as observers and their contributions shall be taken into due consideration under the conditions set in its rules of procedure:

• a maximum of 14 representatives of social partners in sectors with a high incidence of undeclared work nominated by the social partners themselves, equally representing both sides of industry;
• a representative of the Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors (SLIC);
• a representative of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems;
• a representative of the Public Employment Services Network (PES);
• a representative of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC);
• a representative of each third-country EEA state.

Objectives of the Platform: the overriding objective of the Platform shall be to provide value-added input at Union level to the efforts of Member States and Union institutions to successfully tackle the complex problem of undeclared work and its manifold implications and consequences including encouraging and promoting declared work.

The Platform shall, to that end, contribute to an improvement in Union and national law, help to achieve the Union's employment targets providing a more effective Union framework for employment and workplace health and safety.

The Platform should also deal with falsely declared work and bogus self-employment.

Missions and tasks: as a follow-up to the European Parliament resolution of 14 January, the European Platform should enhance the exchange of experience and good practices, provide up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparative information, enhance cross-border cooperation and identify and keep a record of letter-box companies and similar operation.

Tasks: the Platform shall thus: (i) encourage and facilitate practical, effective and efficient cross-border operational action; (ii) contribute to a horizontal understanding of matters relating to undeclared work.

In order to execute its mission, the Platform shall in particular carry out the following tasks:

• improve the knowledge of all forms of undeclared work, by means of common concepts, including comprehensive definitions of existing and new forms of undeclared work, indicators and methodologies for data collection;
• improve the knowledge and mutual understanding of different national labour inspection systems and practices to tackle undeclared work;
• develop guidelines for enforcement;
• draw up and publish information to facilitate the activities of national labour inspection systems;
• contribute to the identification of areas related to undeclared work where Union legislation is not achieving its intended objectives;
• make proposals to the Commission, to the European Parliament and to the Council for inclusion in the country specific recommendations of appropriate action addressing the particular aspects of tackling undeclared work;
• provide opinions and proposals to the institutions on issues relating to better regulation;
• encourage active cooperation between the enforcement authorities of Member States and third countries where appropriate, in order to resolve problems related to undeclared work involving those third countries;
• encourage national authorities and other bodies to provide advice and information to workers who have been victimised by practices of undeclared work.

Operation: the Commission shall coordinate the work of the Platform and the Commission representative to the Platform shall co-chair its meetings. The members of the Platform shall elect from among their number another co-chair of equal standing as well as two substitutes. The Platform shall meet at least twice a year.

Defence of rights: persons bringing cases of undeclared work to the attention of the Platform, either directly or via national enforcement authorities shall be protected against any unfavourable treatment by their employer.