VII Iberian Labour Law Summit

Changes in EU Law and Their Impact on Portuguese and Spanish Labour Law Regimes

In the European context, 2024 brought important news in the field of labour law since national laws cannot be adequately understood and interpreted without their indispensable articulation with EU law.

Several pieces of legislation were approved and will have to be transposed into the national legal systems over the course of the next two years. This is the case of the Directive on improving working conditions in platform work - an instrument which, according to the European Commission, will be applicable to 43 million workers by 2025 and that regulates, for the first time within the scope of EU legislation, algorithmic management in the workplace −, as well as the Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence.

Another instrument with a broader scope, but with a strong impact on labour relations, was adopted on March 13, 2024 by the European Parliament: the EU AI Act, which is the first regulation on artificial intelligence and regulates, among other aspects, the use of AI systems in labour relations.

Furthermore, the Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market was approved. If a product is deemed to have been made using forced labour, it will no longer be possible to sell it on the EU market (including online) and shipments will be intercepted at the EU’s borders.

Finally, it should be noted that the deadline for transposing the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU ends in November 2024, which calls for the analysis of its transposition by EU Member States.

In the VII edition of the Iberian Labour Law Summit − organized by both the Portuguese Association of Labour Law (APODIT) and the Spanish Association of Labour and Social Security Law (AEDTSS) together with the Porto Law School of the UCP and the Research Centre for the Future of Law (CEID) −, these topics will be analysed with the aim of evaluating the impact of these European pieces of legislation on Portuguese and Spanish labour law regimes, allowing us to anticipate upcoming legislative changes, as well as the interpretation of the current law in light of them and the very relevant case-law of the Court of Justice (of the EU) which will be subject to autonomous examination.

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