Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 389 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in June 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 389 entries and was last updated in June 2024.
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Sweden
In June 2018, a new category of taxis was approved by the Swedish parliment, which is exempt from the taximeter requirement. These taxis must be affiliated with a dispatch centre, which will register data on each ride and organise booking, fare, payment and the route, instead of a taximeter. The amendments to the taxi regulation were expected to be implemented in September 2020 and January 2021, but the implementation was postponed to 1 June 2021.
In Sweden, all passenger transportation is classified as a taxi service, without an independent private-hire vehicle industry (such as limousine transport).
Uber entered Sweden in September 2014, providing services including Uber X, Uber Black and Uber Pop. The launch of these Uber services has caused concerns among lawmakers and social partners in Sweden. Uber Pop was suspended in Sweden in May 2016, after almost 30 drivers were sentenced for providing passenger transportation without taxi licences or taximeters. Although Uber X and Uber Black could continue to operate in Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm, Uber drivers must now register the details of each ride in the taximeter.
In 2016, a report from the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (Näringsdepartementet) ‘Taxi and Car-Pooling – Today, Tomorrow and the Day After Tomorrow’ (SOU 2016:86), concluded that it was necessary to distinguish between taxi services and car-pooling. The Swedish parliament approved a new category of taxis in June 2018, exempt from the taximeter requirement. These taxis must be affiliated with a dispatch centre, which will register data on each ride and organise booking, fare, payment and the route, instead of a taximeter. The amendments to the taxi regulation were expected to be implemented in September 2020 and January 2021 but the implementation was postponed to 1 June 2021.
Although Uber in Sweden initially acted as a mere facilitator for independent drivers, it has extended its services. Uber drivers who do not own a car registered for passenger transportation can become ‘fleet partners’, meaning that they can use a car owned by someone else (that is, a ‘fleet owner’, as termed by Uber) to pick up and drive passengers through Uber. In Sweden, Uber also gives drivers the opportunity to lease or buy a car through the company.
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.
