Work via digital platforms: Romania taking proactive measures before EU directive transposition

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have adopted, on October 23 2024, Directive (EU) 2024/2831 on the improvement of working conditions in platform work, which must be transposed by member states into domestic law within two years (i.e., by December 2 2026).

The directive lays down rules to:

• Support the determination of the correct employment status of persons working on digital platforms;

• Improve transparency in relation to digital platform work, including in cross-border situations; and

• Improve the protection of workers in the context of algorithmic management.

It also establishes rules to improve the protection of personal data by enhancing transparency, fairness, human oversight, security, and accountability in the relevant algorithmic management procedures in platform work.

It has been found that, in many cases, platform workers do not have a direct contractual relationship with the digital work platform but are in a relationship with an intermediary through which they perform their work on the platform. This way of working often leads to a wider range of different and complex multiparty relationships, including subcontracting chains, and unclear responsibilities between the digital work platform and the intermediaries.

Thus, the directive specifies that member states will have to put in place appropriate measures to ensure that persons who work on platforms through intermediaries benefit from the same level of protection as those who have a direct contractual relationship with the digital work platform (as the risks for the end worker are the same).

Furthermore, to tackle the false self-employed status of work on platforms, member states should have appropriate procedures in place to prevent and address the misclassification of the occupational status of persons working on platforms.

Considering the large number of people working on digital platforms in the EU (estimated at 43 million) and the scale of this phenomenon in Romania in the pandemic and post-pandemic period, especially in areas such as food delivery and ride-sharing, the implementation of this directive should radically transform the perception of the professional status of these workers.

Establishing a legal presumption of the existence of an employment relationship between the digital platform and the worker – if the relationship has elements of management and control – is intended to provide greater protection for people working on platforms, including in terms of health and safety. The burden of proof to the contrary rests with the digital platform, which will refer to the definitions of employment relationship in national law, collective agreements, national practices, and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

In addition, digital platforms will be obliged to declare to the competent authority the work performed by platform workers and to provide information on the number of people working on the platforms, the average number of hours worked per week, and the average income earned from this work.

To ensure that the legal presumption is respected, national competent authorities will need to carry out effective, proportionate, and non-discriminatory checks and inspections. An increase in the number of labour inspections on large digital platforms is expected in the coming years.

There are more and more conclusive signs from the authorities that the subject of digital platforms is on the list of priorities for Romania in the coming period, and even if the adoption of the directive is due to be achieved by the end of 2026, some measures and actions seem set to be adopted even earlier.

For example, in recent months, the National Anticorruption Directorate and the anti-fraud division of the Romanian tax agency have successfully identified several tax evasion schemes and taken legal and tax actions against the person who orchestrated these illegal actions.

Another strong sign underlining the importance of this subject in Romania is the adoption in March 2025 of an order for the implementation of an informative declaration on the activity of alternative transportation through digital platforms, which aims to collect mass data from ride-sharing applications about its users, intermediaries, workers, and their entire revenue structure as declared and registered within the platform. The local authorities argue that there is “a systemic risk, which requires a fast, focused and sustainable intervention in order to increase the degree of tax compliance and to prevent, detect and firmly combat fraud and tax evasion”.

Combining the future effects of the directive together with the tailored local measures already taken, we can expect that in the coming years, Romania will show an increased level of tax compliance and a reduced level of tax evasion in the area of working through digital platforms.

However, for that to happen, the authors believe it is imperative for the Romanian authorities to review and adapt the existing labour and tax legislation and implement clearer and more practical rules, guidelines, and procedures to ease voluntary compliance for the stakeholders involved (platform owners, workers, employers, and other intermediaries).