Public consultation on the transposition of the EU Platform Work Directive

At a glance

• Spain has launched a public consultation on a draft law to transpose the Platform Work Directive (Directive).
• The proposed legislation would go beyond Spain's existing Rider Law framework by extending protections to platform workers generally and strengthening rules on algorithmic management, transparency, and human oversight.
• The government also intends to align the new framework with the recently adopted ILO Convention No. 193 on Decent Work in the Platform Economy (Convention), as well as existing EU and Spanish data protection and AI legislation.

The Ministry of Work has issued a prior public consultation on a draft bill that will transpose the Directive into Spanish law. The consultation forms part of the legislative preparation process and seeks input from stakeholders on the need, objectives, and content of the future legislation.

Spain already took an early legislative step in this area through Law 12/2021, commonly known as the Rider Law. That legislation introduced a rebuttable presumption of employment for certain delivery workers operating through digital platforms and established information rights for employee representatives regarding algorithms and artificial intelligence systems that affect working conditions, access to employment and job retention. However, the Directive has a much broader scope than the existing Spanish framework and the government considers that there is a need to reconcile the differing approaches found in the Directive and the Convention while ensuring consistency with existing legal frameworks governing data protection and artificial intelligence, including the GDPR, Spain's Data Protection Act and the EU AI Act.

The Directive requires Member States to adopt measures facilitating the correct determination of employment status for platform workers and establishes protections relating to algorithmic management, transparency, fairness, human oversight, accountability, and personal data protection. It applies to platform work organised within the EU regardless of where the platform company is established.

As mentioned, the new law will also need to take into account the recent adoption of the Convention, described as the first international treaty specifically regulating platform work. The Convention seeks to combat precarious working conditions by safeguarding fundamental labour rights, collective bargaining, social protection, occupational safety and health, non-discrimination and algorithmic transparency.