In Shipping Law News 19/07/2016
Source: Eric Van Hooydonk Lawyers
There have been several important new steps taken in the long story of dock labour reform in the European Union. With respect to the infringement procedure which the European Commission initiated against Belgium, the Minister concerned has worked out a package of reforms in consultation with the social partners. The package comprises among other things a phased opening of the labour market to non-pool labour. Even so a large number of other restrictions continue to exist, obliging the European Commission to make time for a critical evaluation of the results effectively achieved. Moreover the Commission will also have to deal with a number of other sticking points which various firms have been complaining about for some time. The reform plans must also be seen in the context of the judgment of the Court of the European Free Trade Association about the labour pool in the Norwegian port of Drammen (case E-14/15).
The Court clearly indicated that a classic monopoly pool system is irreconcilable with the competition rules, the freedom of establishment, and human rights. Just as Eric Van Hooydonk previously stated in a study of dock labour in the EU, the obligation incumbent on dock workers to join a union constitutes a breach of the negative freedom of association. A third important development is that at the end of April the European Commission decided to refer Spain for a second time to the Court of Justice, because Spain has failed to respond to the condemnation of its pool system in a judgment at the end of 2014 (case C-576/13). On 23 June Eric Van Hooydonk summarized the current state of affairs at the annual congress of the Spanish Maritime Law Association in Madrid.
Source: Eric Van Hooydonk Lawyers
