Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 415 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in July 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 415 entries and was last updated in July 2025.
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Austria
Lieferando, the Austrian branch of Just Eat Takeaway, is changing its operating model in Austria, moving away from employing its delivery drivers and shifting entirely to using freelance contractors. This decision means between 600 and 966 employed drivers (plus 65 office staff) will lose their jobs by the end of June, rendering the recently negotiated collective agreement largely ineffective for future workers. This decision comes amid ongoing discussions about employment rights for bicycle couriers.
The company states this change is due to significant competitive disadvantages - despite offering a voluntary wage increase in 2024.- as rivals like Foodora and Wolt primarily use freelancers. Lieferando emphasises it is not withdrawing from the Austrian market but will no longer invest in employed drivers covered by collective agreements. Future drivers will need their own bikes or e-mopeds, with Lieferando providing only jackets, helmets, and bags.
Trade union vida criticises freelance contracts as a way for corporations to bypass labour standards, transferring risks like low demand or illness onto workers to maximise profits.
The following recent changes to this initiative have been recorded.
Lieferando subsequently negotiated a €1.7 million social plan with its works council for around 650 laid-off employed drivers, offering severance packages. The social plan, valued at 1.7 million euros, includes a 400,000 euro hardship fund, but only if employees agree to an "amicable dissolution."
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.
