Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 412 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in March 2025 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.
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Netherlands
The District Court of Amsterdam ruled against a claim of false self-employment made by trade unions FNV and CNV regarding workers providing services through the digital labour platform Temper. Temper in digital labour platform matching clients with workers who provide on-location services in sectors such as cleaning, construction, catering, and so on. The workers are registered as self-employed and have to provide a VAT number before they can be matched with a client. In the autumn of 2020, the trade unions FNV and CNV started legal proceedings against Temper claiming that the platform is not simply mediating between clients and workers, but it’s in fact a temporary agency. It then follows that the workers who provide services through Temper should be covered by the collective labour agreement for temporary workers. While initially the Court allowed FNV and CNV to act as representatives of all workers providing services through Temper, in October 2023 it revoked the decision, following a large number of drop-outs from the class action. The court analysed in detail how work through the platform is carried out, including information on how worker’s accounts have to be created, what information the client has access to when selecting a worker for a task (e.g. the profile picture, name, rating, turnout rate and the percentage that the worker arrived on time), how the payment is processed, and so on. The court has established that there is no temporary employment contract between the workers and Temper for two main reasons: 1) The platform has no authority over the workers; it is the clients, and not Temper, who give instructions to the workers and supervise the work. 2) While in a temporary employment relationship the salary is determined and paid by the temporary employer, Temper itself does not pay anything to the workers. The workers invoice the clients and the clients pay. In addition, the remuneration is determined outside of Temper. Temper does apply minimum rates for different types of jobs – so clients cannot offer a job below that rate – but otherwise clients are free to set an hourly rate.
In 2018, the platform Temper, which matches demand and supply for staff in hotels, restaurants and cafés, approached the hospitality division of the largest Dutch union FNV (Federation National Unions, …
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.
