While collective agreements between employer and workers are not subject to EU competition rules, self-employed people risk infringing competition rules when negotiating collectively on their fees or other trading conditions. This is because they are considered as ‘undertakings’. As a result, self-employed people are often uncertain whether they can collectively negotiate their working conditions.

In this regard, the European Commission has adopted Guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed people. The Guidelines clarify when certain self-employed people can get together to negotiate collectively better working conditions without breaching EU competition rules.

The new Guidelines aim to provide legal certainty to the solo self-employed people (who work completely on their own and do not employ others) by clarifying when competition law does not stand in the way of their efforts to negotiate collectively for a better deal.

The Guidelines form part of the actions by the European Union, seeking to ensure that the working conditions of platform workers are adequately addressed.

Find out more about these Guidelines here.