Effective Enforcement of EC Labour Law: A Comparative Analysis

ABSTRACT ▪ This article deals with the rules designed to enforce European Union labour law in the workplace. Directives do not normally provide specific rules on procedures and sanctions according to which their substantive provisions are to be enforced. Instead, domestic rules are to be applied. The European Court of Justice, however, has developed some requirements that limit the autonomy of the Member States in this area. The aim of this article is to evaluate the principle of effective enforcement in the field of labour law, in the light of actual enforcement procedures in the Member States. The Principle of Effective Enforcement This article deals with the rules designed to enforce European Union (EU) labour law in the workplace. The bulk of EU labour law consists of directives, which are binding upon the Member States as to the result to be achieved, but leave it to national authorities to choose form and method (Article 249 EC). One characteristic feature of EU directives is that they usually only state which behaviours are accepted or not, or which situations are to be protected; they do not normally say anything about the means by which the rights and obligations provided shall take effect in a national context. An EU directive, for example, might prescribe how an employer shall treat employees in certain respects, but without specifying in any way what is to happen if the employer does not follow these rules. Another way of putting this is that EU directives lay down certain rules of conduct, but no specific rules on remedies or procedures. The assumption is that in the absence of European rules on remedies and procedures, domestic procedures are to be applied. Although rules on procedures and remedies are primarily a matter for the Member States, Community law may still affect such rules, since the principle of subsidiarity does not give Member States full autonomy in deciding the rules that should be applied. The European Court of Justic