PURPOSE: to establish a Platform to enhance EU
cooperation in the prevention of undeclared work.
PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and
of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: the draft decision notes that undeclared
work has serious budgetary implications through decreased tax and
social security revenues. It has negative impacts on employment,
productivity and working conditions, skills development and
life-long learning. It results in lower pension rights and less
access to health care and causes unfair competition between
undertakings. A closely related phenomenon is falsely declared
work, or bogus self-employment, which also has negative
consequences in terms of health and safety and social security
coverage of the workers concerned.
The European Parliament in its resolution of 14 January
2014 called for stronger cooperation and
reinforcement of labour inspectorates to fight undeclared
work.
The main responsibility for tackling undeclared work
lies with Member States and relies mostly on three types of
enforcement bodies: labour inspectorates, social security
inspectorates fighting fraud on social insurance contributions, and
tax authorities. In some Member States, social partners, customs
authorities, migration bodies, the police and the public
prosecutor's office are involved. It has, however, been noticed
that, in some cases, cooperation between these different bodies at
national level is not as structured or effective as
necessary.
As the challenges are common to Member States,
and as undeclared work often has a cross-border dimension, EU level
action can play an important role by reinforcing cooperation
between enforcement authorities within and between different Member
States in the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work. At the
moment, there is no formal mechanism in place for all
relevant authorities from Member States to address issues related
to cross-border aspects of undeclared work.
The Communication of 2012 "Towards a job-rich
recovery" highlighted the need for improved cooperation among
Member States and announced the launch of consultations on setting
up an EU-level platform between labour inspectorates and other
enforcement bodies to combat undeclared work, aimed at improving
cooperation, sharing best practices and identifying common
principles for inspections.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: this included several options for
enhancing EU cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of
undeclared work, and concluded that the preferred option would be
the establishment of a European Platform with mandatory
membership.
LEGAL BASIS: Article 153(2)(a) of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
CONTENT: the draft decision establishes a Platform to
enhance EU cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of
undeclared work, composed of national enforcement authorities as
nominated by all the Member States and the Commission.
Observers: representatives of the social partners at
cross-industry level, as well as from sectors with high incidence
of undeclared work may attend meetings of the Platform as
observers. Other observers include Eurofound, the European Agency
for Safety and Health at Work and the ILO.
Objectives : the
Platform will contribute to better enforcement of EU and national
law, to the reduction of undeclared work and the emergence of
formal jobs, by:
- improving cooperation between Member States' different
enforcement authorities at EU level to prevent and deter undeclared
work, including bogus self-employment, more efficiently and
effectively ;
- improving Member States' different enforcement
authorities' technical capacity to tackle cross-border aspects of
undeclared work,
- increasing public awareness on the urgency of action
and encouraging Member States to step up their efforts in dealing
with undeclared work.
To achieve these objectives, the Platform will: (i)
exchange best practices and information, (ii) develop expertise and
analysis, (iii) coordinate cross-border operational
actions.
Tasks: the draft
decision sets out a list of tasks that the Platform should carry
out for the execution of its mission. These
include :
- establishing a knowledge bank of different
practices/measures, including bilateral agreements used in Member
States to deter undeclared work ;
- adopting non-binding guidelines for inspectors,
handbooks of good practice and common principles of
inspections ;
- developing permanent training capacity for enforcement
authorities and adopting a common framework for carrying out joint
trainings ; and
- organising peer reviews to follow Member States
progress, including support for the implementation of
country-specific recommendations.
Single Pint of Contact:
to achieve its objectives, the Platform will be supported by a
'Single point of contact' in each Member State who should have the
necessary authority to liaise with national authorities dealing
with the multifaceted aspects of undeclared work.
Operation: the
Commission will coordinate the work of the Platform and chair its
meetings.
The Platform shall adopt by majority decision, the
rules of procedure, a two-year work programme, and the
establishment of working groups to examine issues specified in work
Programmes.
Review: four years after
its entry into force, the Commission must submit a report on the
application of the decision and assess to what extent the Platform
has contributed to the achievement of its objectives.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013
establishes an EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation
("EaSI") for the period 2014-2020. Funding for the Platform will
come from the PROGRESS axis. An indicative amount of 2.1 million
EUR per year is provided for carrying out the tasks, such as
the establishment of practical tools, support by service providers,
publishing of common guidelines and principles, and handbooks,
developing a permanent training capacity and a common framework for
carrying out joint trainings, organising peer reviews and European
Campaigns. In addition, grants to finance projects supporting the
achievement of the objectives of the Platform will be covered. Up
to 224 000 EUR per year will be used to reimburse the costs related
to participation in the Platform meetings.
It is also recalled that the European Social Fund
(ESF) supports Member States' efforts to improve the quality of
public administration. Financing is envisaged within the
Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.
The legislative proposal is budget-neutral and does
not require additional staff resources.