1. The purpose of this Directive is to improve working conditions and the protection of personal data in platform work by:
(a)
introducing measures to facilitate the determination of the correct employment status of persons performing platform work;
(b)
promoting transparency, fairness, human oversight, safety and accountability in algorithmic management in platform work; and
(c)
improving transparency with regard to platform work, including in cross-border situations.
2. This Directive lays down minimum rights that apply to every person performing platform work in the Union who has or who, on the basis of an assessment of the facts, is deemed to have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in the Member States with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice.
This Directive also lays down rules to improve the protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of their personal data by providing measures on algorithmic management applicable to persons performing platform work in the Union, including those who do not have an employment contract or employment relationship.
3. This Directive applies to digital labour platforms organising platform work performed in the Union, irrespective of their place of establishment or of the law otherwise applicable.
1. For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:
(a)
‘digital labour platform’ means a natural or legal person providing a service which meets all of the following requirements:
(i)
it is provided, at least in part, at a distance by electronic means, such as by means of a website or a mobile application;
(ii)
it is provided at the request of a recipient of the service;
(iii)
it involves, as a necessary and essential component, the organisation of work performed by individuals in return for payment, irrespective of whether that work is performed online or in a certain location;
(iv)
it involves the use of automated monitoring systems or automated decision-making systems;
(b)
‘platform work’ means work organised through a digital labour platform and performed in the Union by an individual on the basis of a contractual relationship between the digital labour platform or an intermediary, and the individual, irrespective of whether there is a contractual relationship between the individual or an intermediary and the recipient of the service;
(c)
‘person performing platform work’ means an individual performing platform work, irrespective of the nature of the contractual relationship or the designation of that relationship by the parties involved;
(d)
‘platform worker’ means any person performing platform work who has or is deemed to have an employment contract or an employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in the Member States with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice;
(e)
‘intermediary’ means a natural or legal person that, for the purpose of making platform work available to or through a digital labour platform:
(i)
establishes a contractual relationship with that digital labour platform and a contractual relationship with the person performing platform work; or
(ii)
is in a subcontracting chain between that digital labour platform and the person performing platform work;
(f)
‘workers’ representatives’ means representatives of platform workers, such as trade unions and representatives who are freely elected by the platform workers in accordance with national law and practice;
(g)
‘representatives of persons performing platform work’ means workers’ representatives and, insofar as provided for in national law and practice,
(h)
‘automated monitoring systems’ means systems which are used for or which support monitoring, supervising or evaluating, by electronic means, the work performance of persons performing platform work or the activities carried out within the work environment, including by collecting personal data;
(i)
‘automated decision-making systems’ means systems which are used to take or support, by electronic means, decisions that significantly affect persons performing platform work, including the working conditions of platform workers, in particular decisions affecting their recruitment, their access to and the organisation of work assignments, their earnings, including the pricing of individual assignments, their safety and health, their working time, their access to training, their promotion or its equivalent, and their contractual status including the restriction, suspension or termination of their account.
2. The definition of ‘digital labour platform’ laid down in point (a) of paragraph 1 does not include providers of a service whose primary purpose is to exploit or share assets or by means of which individuals who are not professionals can resell goods.
Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, where a digital labour platform makes use of intermediaries, persons performing platform work who have a contractual relationship with an intermediary enjoy the same level of protection pursuant to this Directive as those who have a direct contractual relationship with a digital labour platform. To that end, Member States shall take measures, in accordance with national law and practice, to establish appropriate mechanisms, which shall include, where appropriate, joint and several liability systems.
