The European Labour Authority (ELA) was established by Regulation 2019/1149 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019. It started its activities in mid-October 2019 and it is gradually increasing the scope of its activities. It will be fully operational by 2024.

Article 1 of the Regulation says: “the Authority shall assist Member States and the Commission in their effective application and enforcement of Union law related to labour mobility across the Union and the coordination of social security systems within the Union”.

The tasks of the Authority are listed in Article 4:

1. “facilitate access to information and coordinate EURES, [...]” (European Cooperation Network for employment services and employment mobility across Europe);
2. “facilitate cooperation and the exchange of information between Member States with a view to the consistent, efficient and effective application and enforcement of relevant Union law, [...]”;
3. “coordinate and support concerted and joint inspections, [...]”;
4. “carry out analyses and risk assessment on issues of cross-border labour mobility, [...]”;
5. “support Member States with capacity building regarding the effective application and enforcement of relevant Union law, [...]”;
6. “support Member States in tackling undeclared work, [...]”;
7. “mediate disputes between Member States on the application of relevant Union law”.

Concerning the coordination and support of concerted labour inspections, this is an important task for ELA since about 17 million European citizens currently live or work in another Member State and it is key to monitor their proper implementation of the EU body of legislation. “[...] Enforcing EU rules across the Member States effectively requires structured cooperation and exchange between competent national authorities, as well as resources for common activities, such as organising joint inspections or training national staff to deal with cross-border cases”.

“The increasing complexity of labour mobility abuse demands better risk assessment and coordination of inspections across more countries and the EU as a whole. For example, fraudulent letterbox companies often operate in several Member States. They have limited lifespan, vary in size, and regularly change their corporate names and place of registration. They quickly adapt to avoid an inspection. All these factors undermine the collection, comparison and verification of documents and company records required to build a compelling case”.

Article 8 details the procedure for initiating concerted or joint inspections: this can occur at the request of one or more Member States, or at the initiative of the ELA, or after social partners bring cases to the attention of ELA. Concerted and joint inspections shall in any case be subject to the agreement of the Member States concerned.

The difference between concerted and joint labour inspection is contained in Article 8.2:

• “Concerted inspections are inspections carried out in two or more Member States simultaneously regarding related cases, with each national authority operating in its own territory, and supported, where appropriate, by the staff of the Authority”.
• “Joint inspections are inspections carried out in a Member State with the participation of the national authorities of one or more other Member States, and supported, where appropriate, by the staff of the Authority”.

In February 2021 ELA announced that it was ready to conduct joint inspections and to provide “conceptual, logistical and technical support, as well as legal expertise” after its Management Board approved a set of standard procedures for national authorities and social partners. 

The simplified standard approach is composed of:

• Guidelines for concerted and joint inspections (December 2020), providing an overview of the procedures and practical information on the execution of cross-border inspections. The Guidelines also include a mapping of the national legislations applicable to cross-border inspections.
• Workflow guidance for Member States, social partners, and for ELA.
• Template on description of a case, model agreement for cross border inspection, post-inspection reporting, and irregular inspection reporting.

When social partners bring cases to the attention of ELA, they must compile all information related to the case, specifying previous attempts to address case with the relevant national authorities, inform simultaneously ELA and the national authorities of the case they wish to be inspected. ELA can take over its task of suggesting one or more Member State to conduct the inspection, but also share information on the possible violation of EU legislation, and built capacity of Member States and social partners.