Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 386 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in February 2024 and provides metadata for each entry, such as geographical scope, year, type of initiative, actors involved, sector and companies concerned. Initiatives include legal instruments such as legislative changes or court decisions, as well as voluntary interventions undertaken by different stakeholders to address issues around platform work.
Search
The database currently contains 386 entries and was last updated in February 2024.
Tag
Active
Spain
The Catalan Government has passed a law in July 2022 which comes into force on 1 October 2022, limiting private hire platforms (VTCs) in Catalonia to limousines and passenger vans. The Decree Law is the first of its kind in Spain, delineating taxis and VTCs. This ruling is perceived as highly controversial with VTC operators stating this will cost the region thousands of jobs.
Details of the Law
The Law details the new regulations which VTCs must adhere to. VTCs are restricted to vehicles with a minimum length of 4.9 metres – this is longer than the standard VTC car used for providing services to platform operators such as Uber. The services from a driver will have to be booked 15 minutes in advance. A driver will now have to have had their licence from a minimum of two years. To align the new Law with carbon emissions targets, VTCs must now display a ‘zero’ or ‘eco’ label to signify the vehicle is electric or hybrid. Fines for not adhering with the new regulations will range from €200 to €6000.
Impact of the Law & Social Partner Perspectives
The Law is seen as the most stringent applied among Spain’s ‘autonomous communities’. It has a big impact on Taxi services and the operating model of platform operators in the region as well as their complimentary third-party service providers. For Taxi companies the Law is a positive step. Uber has been able to keep costs lower than what is achievable for Taxi companies in the regulatory environment. This is due to Uber outsourcing the actual driving services to third-party VTCs who are subject to less stringent operating regulation. To better reflect the new operating models of platform operators in the region, the Law creates a more even environment for competition in the industry. Taxi union ‘Elité Taxi Barcelona’ (Taxista), founded in 2014 to resist the arrival of Uber, was active in campaigning for the Law.
For VTCs this reshapes their business model, potentially making their services too expensive for Uber. It is estimated two-thirds of VTCs will undergo closures, while approximately 1500 are eligible to continue operations under the new Law. The Estonian VTC platform, Bolt, has tried to skirt around the Law, modifying its fleet just to reach the length requirement of 4.9 meters. Taxi union ‘Elité Taxi Barcelona’ has openly campaigned that such modifications do not meet quality control standards and endangers ‘the rest of mobility actors in the city’. Private hire employers’ association, Unauto-VTC, states that the Law ‘puts a noose around the neck of the sector in Catalonia’. Laia Bonet, the President of the Metropolitan Taxi Institute and a Barcelona councillor for mobility in the PSC, said that it ‘ends the permanent confusion between taxi and VTC.’. For Bonet, the taxi service is a public service and VTCs should either offer the same service under the same conditions as Taxi drivers, or be a separate service, and as such, be regulated for that difference.
The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising.
Technological change is accelerating as the capacity of electronic devices to digitally store, process and communicate information expands. Digitalisation is transforming the EU economy and labour markets: nearly one-third of EU workplaces are categorised as highly digitalised. What are the implications of the digital revolution for employment and work?
The rapid rise of the platform economy has led to a marked transformation of European labour markets, and existing regulatory frameworks and voluntary initiatives have yet to catch up. While platform work offers opportunities for workers and employers and potentially contributes to innovation, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU, it has been criticised from the beginning because of the poor employment and working conditions often experienced by workers.
While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion.
