Response by the Danish Government to the Inception Impact Assess-
ment regarding Collective bargaining agreements for self-employed
–
scope of application of EU competition rules
The Danish Government appreciates the opportunity to comment on the
EU Commission’s
Inception Impact Assessment for
collective bargaining
agreements for self-employed.
We welcome the Commission’s initiative concerning the applicability of
EU competition law to collective bargaining by self-employed, as certain
elements of the competition rules in some cases can restrict the access to
collective bargaining. In this context, the Danish Government is especially
concerned with the pay and working conditions for solo self-employed and
employees performing low-skilled, repetitive and easily replaceable tasks,
often providing their labour through digital labour platforms.
With a view to the text presented by the Commission, The Danish Govern-
ment:
Supports the Commission’s general objectives of the proposed leg-
islative initiative, as this approach could be able to solve some of
the problems related to collective bargaining for platform workers.
Agrees that the competition rules must not stand in the way of en-
suring decent working conditions. The right to collective bargain-
ing is a fundamental labour right and a cornerstone of the Danish
labour market model, where the social partners regulate wage and
working conditions primarily through collective agreements.
Underlines that it must be up to the individual Member State to
determine when and under which conditions solo self-employed
persons may negotiate collectively. The Danish Government
stresses that
definitions such as “solo self-employed”, “false/bo-
gus self-employed”
and “employee”
should be national compe-
tence as well.
Suggests that there should be a national flexibility to achieve the
purpose set out in the directive either by applying the directive’s
rules or by collective agreements between the social partners, as it
is known from several labour law directives.
Competition law prohibits undertakings from fixing prices and forming
cartels to the detriment of consumers. The Danish Government acknowl-
edges that competition rules constitute a cornerstone of the market econ-
omy and ensure that undertakings compete by delivering innovative prod-