The Commission has adopted a report on Member States’ cooperation in tackling undeclared work. It highlights that the European Platform tackling Undeclared Work has acted as a catalyst for change, bringing together Member States’ enforcement authorities (labour inspectorates, tax and social security authorities) and social partners to learn from each other and act together. It also contributed to the modernisation of enforcement bodies tackling undeclared work across the EU.

The report is part of the  #EU4FairWork campaign, launched on 2 March 2020. This is the first EU campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of declared work.

Undeclared work puts workers at a multitude of risks, undermines public finances and wider social cohesion. A new Special Eurobarometer survey shows that one in ten Europeans have purchased in the past year goods or services that might include undeclared work and a third of Europeans know somebody who works undeclared.  However, a continuous focus on prevention and awareness-raising remains key.

The Platform will in the coming months be included as a permanent working group within the European Labour Authority, which will allow addressing some of the challenges that emerged over the Platform’s first years of operation. 

Background

While tackling undeclared work is primarily in the hands of national authorities, this persistent challenge also has an important cross-border dimension. The European Platform tackling undeclared work was launched in 2016 to enhance cooperation between Member States, under Decision (EU) 2016/344. Since then, the network has brought together over 1450 stakeholders through mutual learning, cooperation and joint activities. These include, for instance, 

• mutual assistance to countries undertaking structural reforms;
• staff exchange and joint activities (such as cross-border inspections);
• a range of learning events, studies, good practices and toolkits available in the Platform’s virtual library.