Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 411 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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Hungary
The Hungarian Supreme Court has ruled on the employment status of platform workers for the first time, concluding that platform workers are self-employed.
The decision is based on the case of an individual worker and a platform. Specifically, the platform worker had worked for the platform from October 2019 until January 2020. After the worker got into an accident in December of 2019 and continued to experience issues with their vehicle, the platform proposed to terminate the work of the plaintiff due to low activity, which both parties agreed to. The worker then turned to the labour court, requesting it to declare the existence of an open-ended employment relationship between the plaintiff and the platform in the time period indicated above. If the labour court would have ruled in favour of the worker, it would offer them enhanced rights to health care and pensions based on the employer's social security and tax contributions.
The Hungarian Supreme Court was involved because one court found the platform worker to be self-employed, while a second court ruled that there was an employment relationship. The Supreme Court based its decision on the lack of mutual obligations between the worker and the platform, as well as on the lack of fixed working hours which do not oblige the platform to employ the worker. The court also found a lack of a hierarchical working relationship and missing strict subordination to be a decisive factor. The court also ruled that the worker was not economically dependent on the platform.
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.
