Abuse of the status of self-employed

See EESC opinion in all languages under Related documents at the end of this page.

Key points:

• There is currently no unambiguous, EU-wide definition making a clear distinction between bona fide self-employed people working on their own account and sham self-employed.
• Reliable regulation, and a definition of sham self-employment, would help bona fide self-employed and micro businesses. Sham self-employment should be combated through better registration and monitoring of the real position in the labour market.
• Employees who become genuinely self-employed are a normal part of the labour market and the economy. They should be able to benefit from joint facilities like integration into existing organisations and inclusion in different parts of the social security systems and pension schemes. Also health and safety in the workplace should apply in full, and vocational training institutions should be made accessible.
• Some schemes set up in Member States to develop entrepreneurship may create distortion of competition for genuine self-employed, micro businesses and SMEs. It is important to have a study of impact on all these categories.
• The EESC proposes that a suggestion would be made to Member States to identify especially problematic sectors and to set through social dialogue minimum hourly rates that may vary even within the same Member State within regions.

Earlier EESC opinions:

• New trends in self-employed work, CESE 639/2010 (SOC/344)
• Equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity, CESE 631/2009 (SOC/328)

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat