Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 443 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in November 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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The database currently contains 443 entries and was last updated in November 2025.
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Italy
Deliveroo Italy challenged findings by the Italian Labour Inspectorate, INPS (Social Security), and INAIL (Workplace Insurance). Following a labour inspection, Deliveroo Italy received a joint report from INPS and INAIL on 24 February 2021,which stated that its riders should be classified under legal rules providing employee protections (specifically, Article 2 of Legislative Decree 81/2015 - covering 'hetero-organised' or client-organised collaborations) for the period January 2016 to October 2020. Subsequently, on 8 April 2021, Deliveroo received a second report containing a formal demand for payment of €68,160,875.05 in alleged unpaid social security contributions (primarily concerning INPS) based on the initial classification. Deliveroo took legal action to challenge the validity of these inspection findings, the rider classification, and the resulting financial demands.
This is a first instance ruling from the Labour Section of the Court of Milan (Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Lavoro) Sentenza n. 3237/2023.
Deliveroo presented the following reasons to argue its riders were autonomous and not subject to employee rules:
The court ruled largely against Deliveroo and in favour of the Labour Inspectorate/Social Security institutions' main conclusion regarding the application of employee protections under Article 2. However, it modified how the financial consequences (contributions) should be calculated.
The court found the relationship fell under Art. 2 D.Lgs. 81/2015 ('hetero-organisation'), meaning employee rules applied. Key reasons:
The court also refused to consider the specific rider agreement (signed with UGL) as overriding Article 2, because Deliveroo failed to prove the signatory union (UGL) was "comparatively more representative" as legally required for such an exception.
While upholding the classification under Art. 2, the court ruled against the inspectors' calculation of contributions based on a full-time assumption. It found the rule converting part-time to full-time in case of missing proof (Art. 10 D.Lgs 81/2015) was incompatible with the riders' freedom to choose how much to work ('genetic phase' autonomy). Therefore, contributions are due only for the hours actually worked (from login to logout).
The case affects approximately 60.000 riders.
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.
