WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3205/97 by Freddy BLAK to the Commission. Working environment of homeworkers
Date: 1997-10-16
Institutions: BLAK, European Parliament
Subjects: International Labour Organisation, equal treatment, home working, labour law, statistics, teleworking, working conditions, workplace

C 134/114

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30. 4. 98

In July 1996 the Commission presented a proposal for adjustment of the specific aid arrangements for durum
wheat (1). This has been approved by Parliament and is now before the Council. The Commission considers that
the  adjusted  provisions,  which  set  a  maximum  guaranteed  area  in  each  Member  State,  will  barring  unusual
weather guarantee supply of the European industry. In Agenda 2000 (2) the Commission stated that it intended no
change in the present supplements.

(1)  COM(96) 361 final.
(2)  COM(97) 2000 final. 

(98/C 134/148)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3205/97

by Freddy Blak (PSE) to the Commission

(16 October 1997)

Subject: Working environment of homeworkers

1.
A study by the Danish Ministry for Research concludes that the number of homeworkers will explode in the
next three to five years. How does the Commission expect the number of those working at home in the European
Union to increase in the next few years?

Is the Commission aware that many working environment directives that should protect workers simply

2.
have no effect in the home since they assume that the work is carried out in more traditional workplaces?

3. What will the Commission do to guarantee homeworkers in Europe just as good a working environment in
the home as they would have in traditional workplaces?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(24 November 1997)

The  Commission  is  aware  that  the  number  of  homeworkers  in  Europe  is  on  the  increase.  According  to  the
Commission(cid:146)s figures for 1992, 6.9 million people in the Community usually perform their work at home. This is
equivalent to 4.9% of the working population. The Commission is not in a position to estimate the extent to
which the number of homeworkers is going to increase in the next few years.

The Commission recognised in its medium term social action programme (1995-1997) (1), the need to strive at
European  level  to  improve  the  working  conditions  of  homeworkers.  In  the  meantime,  a  convention  and  a
recommendation on homeworkers were adopted by the International labour organisation (ILO) on 20 June 1996.
The convention offers a high level of protection for homeworkers. However, in order to ensure it is applied in the
territory  of  the  whole  Community,  it  should  be  ratified  by  all  Member  States.  The  Commission  is  currently
evaluating various possible courses of action.

In terms of protection, the ILO convention sets out the obligations imposed upon Member States to implement a
policy on homeworking aimed at improving the situation of homeworkers. Moreover, the convention expressly
states that the national policies on homework should promote, as far as possible, equality of treatment between
homeworkers  and  other  wage  earners,  thus  guaranteeing  homeworkers  in  the  Community  a  working
environment equivalent to that in traditional workplaces.

(1)  COM(95) 134 final.