CELEX: 51990PC0228(02)
Language: en
Date: 1990-08-13
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS WITH REGARD TO DISTORTIONS OF COMPETITION

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
 ---pagebreak--- 8. 9. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 224/7
in cash or in kind, indirect wage costs connected with            3.    This Directive shall not apply to employees whose
contract duration and, in particular, rules on seniority          average weekly working time is less than eight hours.
such as entitlement to annual holidays, and entitlement
to seniority and dismissal allowances;                                                     Article 2
Whereas, on account of the differences noted, it is               Member States shall take the necessary measures to
necessary to approximate the relevant national rules in          ensure that employees covered by this Directive are
order to eliminate the disparities which give rise to             afforded, vis-d-vis employees employed full-time for an
distortions of competition;                                      indefinite duration, social protection under statutory and
                                                                 occupational social security schemes rooted in the same
Whereas, however, the approximation of national                  foundations and the same criteria, account being taken
provisions      is not     appropriate   for    employment       of the duration of work and/or pay.
relationships whose weekly duration is considerably
shorter than the average statutory, collectively agreed or                                 Article 3
usual working hours;
                                                                 Member States shall take the necessary measures to
Whereas, as regards the renewal of temporary                     ensure that part-time workers are afforded the same
employment contracts for a given job and the total               entitlements to annual holidays, dismissal allowances and
period covered by successive employment contracts,               seniority allowances as full-time employees, in
there are differences in the laws of the Member States           proportion to the total hours worked.
which provide, according to circumstances, for contracts
to be renewed for up to 12 months, 24 months or 36                                         Article 4
months, or indefinitely, or set the duration of contracts
concluded by temporary employment businesses at three            With regard to temporary employment Member States
months, or at 24 months, with possible renewal or for an         shall take the necessary measures to ensure that:
indefinite period,                                               (a) national laws provide for a limit on the renewal of
                                                                      temporary employment relationships of a duration of
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                           12 months or less for a given job so that the total
                                                                      period of employment does not exceed 36 months;
                           Article 1                             (b) provision is made for some form of equitable
                                                                      allowance, in the event of an unjustified break in the
1.    This Directive concerns the following employment                employment relationship before the term fixed.
relationships:
                                                                                           Article 5
(a) part-time employment relationships involving shorter
    working hours than statutory, collectively agreed or         This Directive shall apply to seasonal workers in so far
     usual hours;                                                as the special features of this form of work allow.
(b) temporary employment relationships in the form of:
                                                                                          Article 6
    — employment governed by a fixed-duration
                                                                 Member States shall comply with this Directive by 31
         contract — including seasonal work —
                                                                 December 1992 at the latest, by bringing into force the
         concluded directly between the employer and the
                                                                 laws, regulations or administrative provisions necessary
         employee, where the end of the contract is estab-
                                                                 or by ensuring that the two sides of industry establish the
         lished by objective conditions such as: reaching a
                                                                 necessary provisions through agreement, without
         specific date, completing a specific task or the
                                                                 prejudice to the obligation of the Member States to
         occurrence of a specific event,
                                                                 achieve the results to be obtained by this Directive. They
    — temporary employment covering any relationship             shall forthwith inform the Commission of all the
         between the temporary employment business               measures taken thereunder.
        which is the employer and its employee, where            The provisions adopted pursuant to the preceding
         the latter has no contract with the undertaking         paragraph shall make express reference to this Directive.
        where he performs his activities.
                                                                                          Article 7
2.    This Directive shall apply to employed persons
working in public and private undertakings.                      This Directive is addressed to the Member States.