Jun 13 2023
European Council agrees on explicit EU-wide criteria defining platform work
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. Read more
Source: IRU