Promoting Market Access for Independent Professionals and The Self-Employed

Promoting Market Access for Independent Professionals and The Self-Employed - EFIP Common Position Paper -

General Considerations Market access and the correct functioning of the EU internal market is of fundamental importance for independent professionals and the self-employed.

European Parliament resolution of 10 March 2009 on the Small Business Act considers that the Commission proposal lacks a clear strategy for self-employed persons to improve their legal status and rights - a fundamental precondition to access cross-border work in the internal market particularly if their position is comparable with salaried employees.

Independent professionals and the self-employed often struggle to learn and comply with EU and national fiscal duties and regulations that govern their businesses, above all if their trading is performed within the internal market. The information is fragmented across several governmental sources, and often obscured by bureaucratic language. Unlike larger businesses, independent professionals cannot waste days to navigate through the maze of requirements and cannot afford to pay the penalties from a single mistake, let alone defend themselves in protracted legal cases.

Hence, uncertainty and fear often lead them to opt out of markets altogether, rather than risk costly enforcement action. To improve market access for independent professionals and the self-employed, national legislations should shift from focussing on the enforcement of penalties for single time infractions to investing into training programs for compliance.

Public tenders and official registration processes should be easily accessible online, contain unburocratic language in accordance to principles equivalent to the Plain English Principles in the Member States and have executive summaries covering all important facts and exceptions. In addition, public tenders and official registration processes should be shared (for instance through an API) with other portals outside the govenment that could present the information in a more appealing and accessible format.

Policy Recommendations Against this backdrop, the EU should: 

Set up in every EU member state one-stop-shops for micro-businesses and people who desire to become self-employed. These structures should bring together all business support services including mentoring, facilitation and advice on access to conventional and nonconventional finance, access to incubators and business accelerators and support for early internationalisation of small businesses. It is however important these one-stop-shops remain 1|P a g e

dynamic, open to new entrepreneurs and do not become exclusive or monopolistic. One-stop shops should be fully operational online without the need of an office with limited opening times and a location difficult to reach. 

Run extensive consultations and involve all relevant stakeholders to ensure a partnership approach, including education / training providers, export promotion actors, the Enterprise Europe Network, the EURES National Coordination Offices and their local staff who should be given clear guidance on how to actively point job-seekers towards becoming self-employed, rather than only entering an employment relationship.

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Promote internationalisation and cross border work in the internal market for independent professionals and the self-employed, allowing them to benefit from the provisions of the onemember limited company directive when providing their services in other EU countries.

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Follow up with the reporting requirements of the European Semester on Member States’ progress towards setting up these one-stop-shops, guidance to job centres and general simplification of legislation on internal market access for micro businesses.

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Within the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe, improve network infrastructures such as access to broadband, reliable mobile phone reception, cloud computing, co-working spaces and effective road and rail infrastructure, as crucial factors to enable peer-to-peer businesses and individuals to both become self-employed and be self-employed.

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Recognise that independent professionals should be able to compete for work and not be subject to restraint of trade by any public organisation as a result of not having employee or larger company status. Similarly, public organisations should not discriminate against independent professionals because of concerns over tax and employment status.

About the European Forum of Independent Professionals (EFIP) EFIP is a European not-for-profit collaboration of national associations which represents over 11 million of independent professionals at EU level through targeted research and advocacy.

Independent professionals (often referred to as freelancers or contractors) are highly-skilled selfemployed workers without employers nor employees. They offer specialised services of an intellectual and knowledge-based nature and work on a flexible basis in a range of creative, managerial, scientific and technical occupations. With a 45% increase since 2004, they are the fastest growing segment of the EU labour market.

EFIP mission is to strive for European policy, business and social environment to become more conducive to the independent and self-employed way of working, in both the private and public sectors.

More information about EFIP is available on our Website, our Manifesto and our Campaign.

Contact 2|P a g e

Marco Torregrossa Secretary General European Forum of Independent Professionals Avenue de l’Opale 124 box 6 B-1030 Brussels (Belgium) +32.486.71.30.26 marco.torregrossa@efip.org www.efip.org EU Transparency Register N.: 823591710024-95

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