After more than a year of intense negotiations, the Council endorsed yesterday a general approach to the Platform Workers Directive, limiting what constitutes a “digital labour platform” in a welcome effort to clarify the relevant definition and criteria. But it has failed to explicitly exclude taxi dispatch centres from the directive’s scope.
The European Council’s position introduces algorithmic monitoring and decision-making systems as additional layers to the definition of “digital labour platforms”, mitigating the risk of the scope being extended to cover the entire brick-and-mortar economy.
While this is a step in the right direction, there is still a risk that taxi dispatch centres can fall under the scope of the legislation. As with the European Parliament, the Council should have explicitly excluded taxi dispatch centres and preserved the right to work of self-employed taxi drivers.
IRU Director of EU Advocacy Raluca Marian said, “The directive should target false self-employment and pure digital platforms without inadvertently burdening traditional transport operators in full compliance with EU laws and labour systems.
“Transport companies, including taxi dispatch centres, have long contributed to national budgets and social security schemes.”
“We welcome the Council’s determination to bring more clarity to the Platform Workers Directive and focus only on where the problem lies, the pure platform economy. But the final text should clarify that taxi dispatch centres fall outside its scope,” she added.
As stated in the European Parliament’s text, taxi dispatch services can be distinguished from ride-hailing digital labour platforms, as they are merely an “add-on” to a pre-existing service and connect only genuine self-employed licenced taxi drivers with their customers.
Self-employed taxi drivers are free to choose how they generate their turnover due to the rights granted to them by their taxi licence, such as the right to conduct street hailing, use dedicated public taxi stops, and other equivalent ways of free access to clients. Hence why taxis should not be covered by the directive.
EU-wide criteria re-introduced
An important improvement introduced by the Council’s agreement in comparison to the Parliament’s position is that is sets an explicit EU-wide criteria for the legal presumption of employment and reclassification as an employee.
According to the Council’s text, at least three out of seven specified criteria, including setting remuneration, work supervision, and restrictions on working hours, have to be met to establish an employment relationship.
“IRU has long been calling for the re-introduction of an EU-wide criteria, as they provide legal certainty and enable a fair and standardised approach, departing from the European Parliament’s confusing position. The Parliament’s version includes an automatic presumption of employment, which sets a heavy burden of proof on transport operators,” highlighted Raluca Marian.
Suspensive effect
It is also encouraging to see that the Council provides a fair defence mechanism. Member states can decide to wait until the end of the appeal process to establish the employment relationship with certainty.
By allowing Member States to decide on the applicability of the “suspensive effect”, the Council’s version recognises the diversity of legal systems and administrative processes across Member States.
Next steps
As the Parliament had already reached its decision in February, the Council's agreement paves the way for negotiations between the EU institutions.