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.
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The database currently contains 386 entries and was last updated in February 2024.
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France
Law 2016-1088 of 9 August 2016 provides a legal definition of ‘electronic platforms’ and extends individual and collective rights to platform workers. The law also defines the principle of the social responsibility of the platform. Collective rights include workers’ right to create or join a union and to organise or participate in a strike and these may not be grounds for the client or platform to sever the contractual relationship. For workers who have generated at least the equivalent of 13% of the annual social security ceiling (€5,348 in 2021) of sales revenue, platforms must bear the costs of the workers’ occupational accident insurance and must cover the costs of ‘the validation of academic credit due to work experience’, meaning to obtain professional certification for the work experience they have gained.
The platforms concerned are companies established in France or abroad which place people at a distance by electronic means for the sale of a good, the provision of a service, the exchange of a good or service, the sharing of a good or service. Since 2019, platforms located abroad must be registered in order to have a French internal identification number (SIREN).
There are two possible options for the coverage of occupational injury contributions:
In practice, the worker admitted to the voluntary insurance scheme for accidents at work and vocational training sends the platform his request for reimbursement of the contributions which were paid. The platform company must ensure that the application for reimbursement follows a simple procedure and must inform workers of the terms and conditions of the application. This must be free of charge and can be done electronically.
Coverage is provided once the annual turnover achieved by the worker through the platform is known. The worker must first pay the voluntary contribution and then claim reimbursement from the platform for the past calendar year, provided that the risk covered by the voluntary insurance corresponds to the activity carried out by the intermediary and that the worker has reached the 13 % of the annual social security ceiling threshold.
Where the worker carries out an activity on several platforms, a platform is obliged to pay the contributions and reimbursement of costs proportionally to the earnings that the self-employed worker has registered relative to the total turnover that he or she has registered in the calendar year through all platforms.
France has updated its tax code to introduce specific reporting requirements for platforms. The law aims to better target fraudulent practices and to strengthen sanctions against deliberate fraud. Article 87 …
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.
