The glossary provides a list of terms used in the ELA website, documents and publications. These are not official definitions and will be continuously up-dated.
Glossary of terms (2018)
English (571.33 KB - PDF)Starting with "E" (8)
ELA's Mutual Learning and Understanding Framework
European Labour Authority initiatives focusing on good practice examples to identify common challenges and policy solutions with participating Member States
Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI)
An IT system that helps social security institutions across the EU exchange information more rapidly and securely, as required by the EU rules on social security coordination.
Enabling approach
A term that covers all policy measures beyond the deterrence approach. It includes incentives, and indirect policy measures. It aims to encourage compliance by using either incentives or improving the commitment to compliance with labour, tax and social security law and regulations among the public.
[Eurofound (2013), op cit.]
Enforcement authority
A body designated by a national government to ensure that there is compliance with specific bodies of law (e.g., labour, tax and/or social security law).
Enforcement Directive
Adopted in 2014 with the aim of strengthening the practical application of, and complementing, the 1996 Posting of Workers Directive by addressing issues related to fraud, circumvention of rules, and exchange of information between the Member States. This Directive also facilitates enforcement of administrative sanctions across borders.
Envelope wages
Often used in the context of under-declared employment, an envelope wage is a cash-in-hand wage paid by a formal employer to a formal employee in addition to their official declared salary, to reduce their tax and social security payments and therefore labour costs. It arises from an agreement between the employer and employee, and additional conditions may be attached to its payment, which are not in the formal written contract or terms of employment.
European Labour Authority's capacity building strategy
multi-annual strategy built on a stakeholder mapping and analysis exercise and delivering recommendations on appropriate technical and organisational measures aimed at improving knowledge and exchange of institutional actors on labour mobility legislation and practices in the European Union
Evidence-based policy design
When designing and implementing a full policy operationalisation model, the results of relevant ex-ante (impact assessments) and ex-post evaluation should be used as sources of information when preparing decisions and determining the effectiveness and efficiency of policy measures for tackling undeclared work. Pilot studies are also an accepted tool for evaluating the effectiveness of a policy approach and measures.