The European Parliament has approved the new Directive on posted workers. As already anticipated, road transport is left out of legislation. Road operators will therefore have to wait for the new Mobility Package. Until then, they are governed by the legislation in force, which dates from 1996.

 

Due to the "highly mobile nature" of work in international road transport, the application of the Directive on the posting of workers in this sector "raises specific problems and difficulties of a legal nature which need to be addressed through specific rules for road transport, the fight against fraud and abuse, as part of the mobility package ", according to the text adopted.

 

The new rules were adopted by a clear majority by the EP (456 votes in favor, 147 against and 49 abstentions). Member States have two years to transpose the new legislation into national law. The revised Directive states that posted workers in another EU country will generally benefit from the same rules on pay and working conditions as apply to local workers in the host country. The aim is, according to Parliament, to avoid social dumping and distortions of competition between companies, while also facilitating the provision of cross-border services. By 2016, there were 2.3 million posted workers in the EU, with the posting increasing by 69% between 2010 and 2016.

 

According to data from the European Commission, there were 64,459 Portuguese workers seconded in other EU countries (65% of whom were in France and Belgium) and 18 109 workers from other Member States posted in Portugal (65% of whom were Spanish ).

 

 

Source, Transportes & Negócios.