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Intra-EU posting : looking for solutions : a herculean or a sisyphean task?

Tijdschriftbijdrage - Tijdschriftartikel

It is an understatement to say that the topic of ‘posting’ stirs up strong emotions. The phenomenon has been under discussion for more than 20 years, and even after the recent revision of the Posting of Workers Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/957 of 28 June 2018 amending Directive 96/71/EC), emotions still do not seem to have calmed down. For some stakeholders, the amended Posting of Workers Directive goes much too far, while other stakeholders argue that the new provisions will have little or no impact in practice. The future will tell. Not only the Posting of Workers Directive but also the Regulations on the coordination of social security systems (‘Basic’ Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and ‘Implementing’ Regulation (EC) No 987/2009, hereinafter the “Coordination Regulations”) have important implications for the use of posting. Despite the European Commission’s proposal to amend these Regulations as well (COM(2016) 815 final), no agreement was ultimately reached on this. The Commission will probably get back to this ‘dossier’ meaning that posting will continue to be a topic of discussion in coming years. All the proposed changes to the Posting of Workers Directive and the Coordination Regulations have been made without waiting for the outcome of the review of Directive 2014/67/EU (i.e. the ‘Enforcement Directive’). After all, the Commission had to review the application and implementation of the Enforcement Directive by mid-June 2019 (EC, 2019).1 The question is, however, whether it is really necessary to constantly pursue adjustments to the European rules applicable to posting. After all, it seems like several provisions on access to information, the registration of posted workers, enforcement, the exchange of information, data collection, and finally monitoring which are laid down by the Posting of Workers Directive, the Coordination Regulations and the Enforcement Directive, are still underutilised. That is why we are in favour of a pragmatic approach which first fully endorses and implements the current legislative framework applicable on intra-European Union (EU) posting as well as the (upcoming) legislative changes. In this chapter, we discuss further steps that can be taken by Member States, but also at EU level in the area of information, registration, enforcement and monitoring on the basis of a better implementation of the existing EU legislation on posting. These areas can also be regarded as communicating vessels which, by means of even better elaboration, can provide a solution to the problems that currently go hand in hand with posting. However, in order to make progress in these areas, it must first be clear what can be understood by the notion of ‘posting’.2 Currently, it seems that everyone talks about posting, but nobody knows exactly what it means.
Tijdschrift: BELGISCH TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR SOCIALE ZEKERHEID - MINISTERIE VAN TEWERKSTELLING EN ARBEID
ISSN: 0775-0234
Issue: 1
Pagina's: 113 - 137
Jaar van publicatie:2019
Toegankelijkheid:Open