This From Theory into Practice Webinar will address the practical challenges and successes in cross-border labour inspection in Europe, and it is hosted by the ILO Research Department ‘Improving compliance with labour protection Research Project’:
The European Union has become the first region in the world to routinely conduct labour and social inspections that transcend national borders. Established in 2019, the European Labour Authority (ELA) plays a pivotal role in coordinating and supporting these cross-border joint and concerted inspections. The commercial activity in the European Union more and more often spans beyond borders of one single country and in the region, there is a comparatively high-level workforce mobility facilitated by pan-European rules on this matter. The introduction of cross border inspections facilitate compliance with labour laws at this level.
These inspections can be conducted jointly, with enforcement authorities from multiple Member States participating, or separately, with each country focusing on enforcement within its territory while sharing and coordinating information and evidence across borders. Since the initial steps in 2021, the scope, scale, and number of these cross-border inspections have expanded significantly, extending beyond the traditional sectors with high worker mobility, such as road transport and construction.
In this webinar, we will delve into ELA's experience in introducing this cross-border compliance mechanism, the initial outcomes, and the lessons and challenges encountered over the past five years. We will discuss the main barriers to compliance faced during cross-border inspections and explore how enforcement can be effectively carried out at the cross-border level. We will examine how these enforcement activities foster compliance. Examples of complex cases in sectors such as road transport, inland waterways, and construction will be discussed where active cross-border enforcement efforts were crucial in facilitating compliance and triggering remedial actions.
