REFIT study to support evaluation of the Written Statement Directive (91/533/EC) : final report

This report presents the results of the study to support the REFIT evaluation of Directive 91/533/EC on an employer's obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship - commonly referred to as the Written Statement Directive. The Directive requires employers to present their employees with the essential aspects of their employment relationship in writing, be it in an employment contract or in any other written document issued by the employer. The information must be provided when the employment starts or up to two months thereafter. Changes in the working conditions must also be notified and additional information must be provided to expatriate employees before their departure. This information obligation serves two main purposes: 1) to improve employees' protection against possible infringements of their rights, and 2) to create greater transparency on the labour market. The study is conducted in the context of the European Commission's Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme (REFIT), which aims to verify that EU legislation is fit for purpose and make EU law simpler and to reduce regulatory costs and contribute to a clear, stable, and predictable regulatory framework supporting growth and jobs. The study is also justified by the fundamental changes that have occurred in the EU labour market where new forms of employment have appeared or developed. It is, therefore, useful to examine whether these new forms of employment should be considered as falling within or outside the scope of Directive 91/533/EC, and whether amendments to the Directive's provisions in the light of the objective of protecting employees will be necessary. Finally, as written statements are seen as a way of preventing undeclared work in some Member States, the study can also be seen as supporting the EU's effort to reduce undeclared work and contribute to a fair posting of workers within the EU. The study was carried out over the course of 10 months (between April 2015 and February 2016) and covered the 31 countries part of the European Economic Area, i.e. EU28 plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.