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Positions within the Committee: even though originally the basic idea of a participatory economy had been the mutual exchange of goods and services, this type of economy has been strongly commercialised within a short period. Representatives of consumers, employees and professionals have been pointing out that accompanied by digitalisation many new and innovative business models have been developed. Nevertheless, there is a lack of respective analyses with regard to establishing which effect this new form of economy will have on the labour market. One can work on the assumption that employees, independent of their current employment level, will be involved in this new market; however, in spite of this they will be exposed to the risk of precarious working conditions. The line between employee and contractor is wafer thin and raises many questions, for example about possible insurances in respect of risk events.
AK Position: the AK too has already pointed out in its Position Paper that in the course of this new development a coordinated employment strategy is also required. Precarious employment relationships, which result in access to social security systems that are more difficult, require effective counter measures such as shorter working hours, respective qualification and securing of minimum standards in these new forms of working. Another important point is that new e-commerce businesses enjoy an unfair competitive advantage, based on which they are able to generate high market shares.
- SMEs and start-ups
Positions within the Committee: the representative for small and medium enterprises pointed out that the “think small first” principle should apply and that unnecessary barriers had to be removed to ensure that innovations are promoted and supported. Due to current laws, many start-ups experience a wide range of uncertainties, which means that they require special treatment. The Commission should focus on easy and speedy access to information and capital. Apart from that, the risk of insolvency should be reduced by enabling companies to have a “second chance”.
Position of AK EUROPA: the AK criticises the idea to make risk capital available within a shorter period. It would be preferable to carry out more intensive verification processes to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises do not overcommit. Debtors and persons who are affected by insolvency should also be considered with regard to the second chance principle.
- Geo blocking
Positions within the Committee: in this case, there were many divided opinions as to whether companies should be permitted to refuse consumers access to a certain service because of their geographic location. Business representatives emphasised that a new proposal by the Commission on this subject was not required as existing laws were perfectly adequate. However, consumers representatives pointed out that - even though there might be some (justified) reasons for geo blocking (logistic problems, national protectionisms etc.) - fundamental rights were breached on both sides. Moreover, consumers are not informed why they are denied access to some products and/or services. There is currently a lack of respective transparency and sanctions.
AK Position: the AK takes the view that the proposal by the Commission to end geo blocking is basically welcome; however, the question also arises to which extent regional massive differences in purchasing power can be regarded as a justification for different prices. However, price discriminations based on internet user profiles have to be rejected.
Further information:
Committee Report on the Single Market Strategy of the Commission