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.
Search
The database currently contains 443 entries and was last updated in November 2025.
Tag
Active
France,
Netherlands
On 12 May 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a lower court's decision, ruling that the service agreement between an Uber driver (Mr M.) and the Dutch subsidiary Uber BV was a contract of employment.
The case was an appeal by the driver against a Paris Labour Court judgement from January 29, 2018, which had dismissed all of his claims. The Paris Court of Appeal overturned the initial judgement and ruled in favour of the driver, reclassifying his service contract with Uber as an employment contract. The court also rejected the claims against Uber France, finding it was not a co-employer, and only held Uber B.V. responsible for the damages.
The court found the driver's self-employed status to be "fictitious," concluding he was in a subordinate relationship with the platform. The key reasons for this decision were:
Uber unilaterally organised the service, controlling everything from vehicle standards to driver conduct.
The driver had no real freedom to set his own fares or choose his rides, as Uber controlled the pricing and penalised drivers for refusing too many trips.
Uber exercised disciplinary power through its rating system and by issuing warnings, one of which the court identified from an emoji showing a "cloud with lightning bolts".
As a result, the court treated the driver's termination of the contract as an unfair dismissal. Uber BV was ordered to pay the driver compensation for the dismissal, holiday pay, and a full reimbursement of his professional expenses totalling €38,088.67. The case against Uber France was dismissed, as was a separate claim for "concealed work".
In June 2018, following the deactivation of his account, an ex-Uber driver argued that his relationship with Uber was effectively one of an employee, not an independent contractor. He claimed …
A driver (Mr F.) asked for his contractual relationship with Uber BV to be reclassified as an employment contract, after Uber deactivated his account. The Paris Court of Appeal (10 …
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.
