Platform Work Directive Trilogue

With trilogue negotiations on the Platform Work Directive scheduled to conclude by the end of 2023 Bitkom would like to underline its key positions for the inter-institutional talks:

• The Directive must provide the legal clarity and certainty required to be effectively implemented and enforced by Member States.
• The definition of “digital labour platform” should clarify that the “recipient” is the end-customer of the service with view to avoid unnecessarily capturing a broad range of scheduling tools that are not related to “gig economy” or “flexible work”.
• A rebuttable presumption of employment should be linked to the fulfilment of clear criteria and should never be triggered quasi-automatically. In order to ensure that genuinely self-employed persons are not affected by the presumption, Article 4 should include legally binding criteria backed by European case law. 
• The Directive should foresee a suspensive effect until the end of legal proceedings in case the presumption of employment is challenged in a rebuttal process. Otherwise in case of a successful rebuttal, reversals of contractual relationships between platforms and persons performing work through platforms would lead to significant administrative and financial burden for companies, member states and persons performing work through platforms themselves.
• Chapter III on “automated monitoring and decision-making systems” (AMDS) should carefully be considered to avoid any potential overlaps and inconsistencies with existing and upcoming regulation (GDPR, P2B Regulation as well as the upcoming AI Act and planned legislation on algorithmic management at the workplace). Therefore, we suggest (1) carving out applications that benefit workplace health and safety and/or the public, such as safety-enhancing technology related to heavy machinery or road safety; and (2) dropping the transparency obligations that would go well beyond the scope of transparency required of other employers in the economy that might also use AMDS.