PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

T.V. v. NV A.B. and S.I.U.O. - Arbh. Brussel, 13 July 2011

Details of the court

Belgium, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

12 July 2011

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The case is concerned with the illegal posting of workers in violation of the Belgian Act on Temporary Agency Work of 24 July 1987. The Court compares this law with the Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, implemented in Belgium by the law of 5 March 2002 which extended its provisions to workers coming from non-Member States as well. The Directive states in its Art. 3(1)(d) that “Member States shall ensure that, whatever the law applicable to the employment relationship, the undertakings referred to in Article 1(1) guarantee workers posted to their territory the terms and conditions of employment covering the following matters […]: (d) the conditions of hiring-out of workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment undertakings”. The provisions on hiring-out and posting of workers, also those included in the 1987 Act on Temporary Agency Work, are overriding mandatory provisions and therefore directly applicable, cf. Art. 7(2) 1980 Rome Convention. Short critique While this decision applies the 1980 Rome Convention, the Labour Court of Appeal already refers to Art. 9 of the Rome I Regulation and confirms that the Belgian Act on Temporary Agency Work is an overriding mandatory provision within the meaning of that Article.