CELEX: 51990PC0228(01)
Language: en
Date: 1990-08-13
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS WITH REGARD TO WORKING CONDITIONS

No C 224/4                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                   8. 9. 90
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive on certain employment relationships with regard to working
                                                           conditions
                                                      COM(90) 228 final
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 29 June 1990)
                                                        (90/C 224/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas within the undertaking part-time, fixed-
                                                                   duration and temporary employees should be taken into
                                                                   account when calculating the minimum threshold for
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              setting up workers' representative bodies in accordance
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100                  with the rules applicable in each Member State;
thereof,
                                                                   Whereas the employer should inform in good time the
                                                                   workers' representative bodies which exist within the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   undertaking of his intention to use part-time and/or
                                                                   temporary workers;
Having regard       to  the   opinion   of    the  European
Parliament,                                                        Whereas, in order to ensure that stable employment is
                                                                   adequately protected, reasons must be given whenever
                                                                   recourse is had to temporary work;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                  Whereas the employees covered by this Directive should
                                                                   be informed in good time by the undertakings concerned
                                                                   whenever they recruit employees for full-time work of
Whereas recent recruitment patterns show a marked                  indefinite duration;
increase in part-time and/or temporary employment
relationships; whereas this is a favourable development in
so far as it meets the need for flexibility in the economy,        Whereas employees of temporary employment businesses
notably among firms, in the context of job creation                should not be precluded from recruitment by the under-
which is a priority in completing the internal market, and         taking making use of their services;
meets the aspirations of certain workers; whereas the
need for these particular forms of employment cannot,              Whereas adequate national measures should be laid
therefore, be called into question;                                down in order to ensure that the contractual obligations
                                                                   of temporary employment businesses towards temporary
                                                                   employees are always fulfilled, even where the temporary
Whereas the provisions, laws, regulations, administrative          employment business is unable to do so;
measures and collective bargaining arrangements
governing      such    employment      relationships    vary       Whereas seasonal workers should be ensured treatment
considerably from one Member State to another;                     equal to that of the other employees, account being
                                                                   taken of the specific nature of their work;
Whereas part-time and/or temporary workers do not
always enjoy within the undertaking treatment equal to             Whereas the abovementioned principles are very difficult
that of other employees in respect of employment and               to apply in practice to employment relationships whose
working conditions;                                                weekly duration is considerably shorter than the average
                                                                   statutory, collectively agreed or usual working hours;
Whereas fixed-duration and part-time workers should                Whereas Title 1, point 7 of the Community Charter of
have access to training under conditions comparable to             the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers lays down
those enjoyed by workers employed full-time for an                 that 'the completion of the internal market must lead to
indefinite duration;                                               an improvement in the living and working conditions of
 ---pagebreak--- 8. 9. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 224/5
workers in the European Community. This process must             2.      Employees covered by this Directive shall be taken
result from an approximation of these conditions, as             into account, on the same footing as the other employees
regards in particular forms of employment other than              (and in proportion to the duration of their work), for the
open-ended contracts, such as fixed-term contracts,              calculation of the threshold at which, within the under-
part-time working, temporary work and seasonal work';            taking, national provisions require the setting up of
                                                                 workers' representative bodies within the undertaking.
Whereas under Article 117 of the EEC Treaty the
Member States agree upon the need to promote                      3.    Where the employer intends to have recourse to
improved living and working conditions and an                    employees covered by this Directive he shall inform in
improved standard of living for workers, so as to make           good time the workers' representative bodies existing
possible their harmonization while the improvement is            within the undertaking.
being maintained,
                                                                 In undertakings with more than 1 000 employees a
                                                                 regular report shall be drawn up on this type of
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                      employment with regard to the development of the
                                                                 workforce as a whole.
                           Article 1
                                                                 4.     The employer shall state in the contract of
 1.   This Directive concerns the following employment           temporary employment the grounds for recourse to this
relationships:                                                   type of employment relationship.
(a) part-time employment relationships involving shorter
                                                                                          Article 3
     working hours than statutory, collectively agreed or
     usual working hours;                                        Employees covered by this Directive shall be entitled to
                                                                 enjoy the same treatment as workers employed in
                                                                 full-time employment of an indefinite duration as regards
b) temporary employment relationships in the form of:
                                                                 benefits in cash and in kind granted under social
                                                                 assistance schemes or under non-contributory social
     — employment governed by a fixed-duration                   security schemes.
         contract — including seasonal work —
         concluded directly between the employer and the
         employee, where the end of the contract is estab-                                Article 4
         lished by objective conditions such as: reaching a
         specific date, completing a specific task or the        Employees covered by this Directive shall have access
         occurrence of a specific event,                         within the undertaking to the social services normally
                                                                 made available to the other employees.
     — temporary employment covering any relationship
         between the temporary employment business                                        Article 5
         which is the employer and its employee, where
         the latter has no contract with the undertaking         Where the undertakings concerned recruit workers for
         where he performs his activities.                       full-time employment of an indefinite duration, they
                                                                 shall inform in good time the employees covered by this
                                                                 Directive so that consideration can be given to any
2.    This Directive shall apply to employed persons             applications they make.
working in public and private undertakings.
3.    This Directive shall not apply to employed persons                                  Article 6
whose average weekly working time is less than eight             Member States shall take the appropriate measures to
hours.                                                           ensure that clauses prohibiting or preventing the
                                                                 conclusion of a contract of employment between the user
                                                                 undertaking and the employee of a temporary
                           Article 2                             employment business are null and void or capable of
                                                                 being declared so.
1.    Employees covered by an employment relationship
for part-time work and/or for a fixed duration shall
enjoy access to vocational training initiated by the
                                                                                          Article 7
undertaking under conditions comparable to those
enjoyed by workers employed in full-time employment              Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure
of an indefinite duration, account being taken of the            that the contractual obligations of the temporary
duration of work and the nature of the tasks to be               employment business towards its temporary employee are
carried out.                                                     fulfilled, notably with respect to the payment of
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 224/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  8. 9. 90
remuneration and social security contributions, where                                      Article 10
that business cannot do so.
                                                                  Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu-
                                                                  lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
                          Article 8                               with this Directive by 31 December 1992 at the latest.
This Directive shall apply to seasonal workers in so far          They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
as the special features of this form of work allow.
                                                                  The provisions adopted pursuant to the preceding
                                                                  paragraph shall make express reference to this Directive.
                          Article 9
This Directive shall not affect the right of the Member                                   Article 11
States to apply or introduce laws, regulations or adminis-
trative provisions more favourable to employees.                 This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
              Proposal for a Council Directive on certain employment relationships with regard to distortions
                                                        of competition
                                                COM(90) 228 final — SYN 280
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 29 June 1990)
                                                        (90/C 224/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         need for these particular forms of employment cannot,
                                                                 therefore, be called into question;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            Whereas the provisions, laws, administrative measures
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a               and collective bargaining arrangements governing such
thereof,                                                         employment relationships vary considerably from one
                                                                 Member State to another;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                 Whereas this situation increases the dangers of distortion
                                                                 of competition resulting from certain differences in
                                                                 treatment between the undertakings of the Member
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                 States;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 Whereas these dangers of distortion of competition are
Social Committee,                                                particularly great in frontier areas;
                                                                 Whereas the freedom of movement for workers may be
Whereas it is necessary to adopt the measures intended           affected thereby;
to establish the internal market progressively during a
period expiring on 31 December 1992; whereas
                                                                 Whereas the Member States may leave it in the first
completion of the internal market requires, inter alia, the
                                                                 instance to the two sides of industry to achieve the
elimination of distortions of competition and at the same
                                                                 objectives set out in this Directive; whereas it is in that
time promotion of economic and social cohesion in the
                                                                 case for them to implement the necessary provisions to
Community;
                                                                 ensure its general application;
Whereas recent recruitment patterns show a marked                Whereas the Member States are responsible for deter-
increase in part-time and/or temporary employment                mining pay; whereas the bargaining autonomy of the
relationships; whereas this is a favourable development in       two sides of industry should be respected;
so far as it meets the need for flexibility in the economy,
notably among firms, in the context of job creation              Whereas the differences in treatment concern mainly
which is a priority in completing the internal market, and       areas such as indirect costs resulting from social
meets the aspirations of certain workers; whereas the            protection, indirect costs for benefits granted to workers