What is the future direction of the Posted Workers Directive?

What is the future direction of the Posted Workers Directive?

The main PWD Directives came into force in 2016 and 2020 respectively. Both Directives now fall under the remit of the European Labour Authority (ELA), which was established in July 2019 and created to help Member States and the European Commission to ensure that EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination were enforced in a fair, simple and effective way.

The Pandemic clearly put much cross border activity on hold, so it is only really since 2022 that we have seen the seriousness with which the ELA and the EC view the need to create a more even and more highly protected labour market across Europe through this legislation. Since 2022 enforcement activity has risen, the EU have issued guidance and clarification where appropriate, and it is not unreasonable to assume that even while the compliance landscape has evolved over the last couple of years, it is likely that this evolution will continue, countries will continue to be pressed to enforce the rules, and labour audits and inspections will continue to increase, particularly in ‘at-risk’ sectors.