CELEX: 51990PC0563
Language: en
Date: 1991-01-08
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON A FORM OF PROOF OF AN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

31. 1.91                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 24/3
                                                             II
                                                     (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
                  Proposal for a Council Directive on a form of proof of an employment relationship
                                                    COM(90) 563 final
                                   (Submitted by the Commission on 5 December 1990)
                                                       (91/C 24/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         relationships involving no more than eight hours' work
                                                                 on average per week;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100                Whereas the provision of a written declaration is super-
thereof,                                                         fluous in cases where there is a written contract of
                                                                 employment, a letter of appointment or any other
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               document making reference to current provisions or
                                                                 collective agreements;
Having regard      to  the   opinion   of   the  European
Parliament,                                                      Whereas, in order to protect the interests of employees
                                                                 with regard to obtaining a written declaration, any
                                                                 substantive change in the contents of the declaration
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 must be brought to the employee's attention in writing,
Social Committee,                                                particularly if he is sent to work abroad;
Whereas the development in the Member States of new
                                                                 Whereas differences in the legislation of Member States
forms of work has led to an increase in the number of            may have a direct effect on the operation of the common
types of employment relationship;                                market;
Whereas, faced with this development, certain Member
                                                                 Whereas point 9 of Title I of the Community Charter of
States have considered it necessary to subject
                                                                 Fundamental Social Rights of Workers states that the
employment relationships to formal requirements;
                                                                 conditions of employment of every worker of the
whereas these provisions are designed to provide
                                                                 European Community shall be stipulated in laws, a
employees     with     improved      protection     against
                                                                 collective agreement or a contract of employment,
infringements of their rights and to create greater trans-
                                                                 according to arrangements applying in each country;
parency in the labour market;
Whereas the relevant legislation of the Member States            Whereas Article 117 of the Treaty provides for the
differs considerably in such fundamental areas as the            Member States to agree upon the need to promote
requirement to put the conclusion of an employment               improved working conditions and an improved standard
contract into writing or the obligation to provide written       of living for workers, so as to make possible their
proof of an employment relationship;                             harmonization while the improvement is being main-
                                                                 tained;
Whereas it is necessary to establish at Community level
the general requirement that every employee must be              Whereas the Member States may, in the first instance,
provided with a document constituting a form of proof            leave it up to the social partners to attain the aims of this
of the main terms of his employment relationship with            Directive, and in such cases it is for them to implement
his employer;                                                    whatever provisions are necessary for its general
                                                                 application;
Whereas it is none the less necessary to maintain a
certain degree of flexibility in employment relationships        Whereas it is appropriate to ensure that the obligations
and the aforementioned obligation to provide a written           arising from this Directive are effectively implemented by
declaration should not therefore apply to employment             the Member States,
 ---pagebreak---   No C 24/4                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 31. 1.91
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                      — if appropriate, the circumstances of return to the
                                                                       employee's home country.
                           Article 1
                                                                                               Article 3
  1.   This Directive applies to any employment
 relationship which is subject to the legislation in force in     The written declaration in accordance with Article 2
 a Member State.                                                  shall not be compulsory if there is:
                                                                  — a contract of employment in writing, or
 2.    The provisions of this Directive shall not apply to
 employment relationships involving no more than eight            — a letter of appointment or other document referring
 hours' work on average a week.                                        to a collective agreement or other regulations
                                                                       governing employment relationships, copies of which
                                                                       are easily accessible.
                           Article 2
 1.    The employer shall provide the worker with a                                           Article 4
written declaration in accordance with the provisions of
 this Directive no later than one month after he has been         This Directive shall not affect Member States' prero-
 recruited.                                                       gative to apply or introduce laws, regulations or adminis-
                                                                  trative provisions which are more favourable to
                                                                  employees.
The employer shall sign the declaration and keep a copy.
2.     The declaration referred to in paragraph 1 shall                                       Article 5
contain the following main elements of information:               Member States shall take such measures as are necessary
                                                                 to ensure the application by all natural and legal persons
— the identity of the parties,                                   of the obligations which derive from this Directive and
                                                                 to penalize any infringement of provisions made to apply
— place of work,                                                 this Directive.
— a description of the job and category of employment,
                                                                                              Article 6
— the duration of the employment relationship and, if             1.     Member States shall implement the laws, regu-
     appropriate, the duration of the trial period, and the      lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
     period of notice,                                           with this Directive by 31 December 1992, or shall ensure
                                                                 that the social partners establish the necessary provisions
— working time and paid leave,                                   through agreement, without prejudice to the obligation
                                                                 on the Member States to achieve the results sought by
— remuneration and method of payment,                            this Directive.
— the social security system applicable and, if appro-           2.      Member States shall take the necessary measures to
     priate, any supplementary scheme,                           ensure that, for employment relationships which already
                                                                 exist when these provisions enter into force, the
— a reference to the collective agreements applicable.           declaration for the employees referred to by this
                                                                 Directive is issued to them within six months of the date
3.     Employees shall receive written notification of any       indicated in paragraph 1.
substantive change to the elements of information listed
in paragraph 2, especially in cases where employees are          3.     When Member States adopt these provisions, these
required to work in another country; in such cases               shall contain a reference to this Directive, or shall be
employees must be assured, before their departure, of            accompanied by such reference at the time of their
receiving the written declaration provided for in                official publication. The procedure for such reference
paragraph 2, which in this case must contain the                 shall be adopted by Member States.
following supplementary information:
                                                                 4.      Member States shall immediately inform the
— the duration of employment abroad,                             Commission of the measures adopted to comply with this
                                                                 Directive.
— the foreign currencies used for the payment of wages
     or salaries,                                                                             Article 7
— any benefits attendant on employment abroad,                   This Directive is addressed to the Member States.