Policy field
Competition: Antitrust
Target group
All citizens, organisations and public authorities are welcome to contribute to this consultation.
Period of consultation
From 09.12.2021 to 24.02.2022
Objective of the consultation
Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU") prohibits agreements between undertakings that restrict competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union has recognised that collective bargaining between workers – including false self-employed – and employers falls outside the scope of the application of EU competition rules. However, genuine self-employed are considered "undertakings" under EU competition law and agreements they collectively enter into (such as collective bargaining agreements) risk breaching Article 101 TFEU.
The draft Guidelines aim to ensure that competition law does not stand in the way of collective agreements to improve the working conditions of certain self-employed persons, who may have little influence over their working conditions, while guaranteeing that consumers and SMEs continue to benefit from competitive prices and innovative business models, including in the digital economy. The draft Guidelines seek to achieve this objective by clarifying the applicability of EU competition law to collective bargaining by solo self-employed.
With the present public consultation, the European Commission is seeking the views of stakeholders about the draft text of the Guidelines.
How to submit your contribution
We welcome contributions from citizens, organisations and public authorities.
> Click COMP-COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING-1
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (here) to submit your contributions
Received contributions will be published on this webpage. Submissions that are clearly marked "confidential" will be treated as such and not published. In that case please also provide a non-confidential version of your reply. It is important to read the privacy statement attached to this consultation for information on how your personal data and contribution will be dealt with.
When providing us with the documents requested above, please ensure that redactions made by you properly cover all confidential information and cannot be reversed.
Consultation document / Questionnaire
- Draft Guidelines (available in all EU languages)
- Press Release
- Q&A
Reference documents and other, related consultations
Results of the public consultation
All non-confidential replies to the consultation are available here.
Contact details
Responsible service:
Directorate-General for Competition – Unit A4
Please always indicate the reference number in your correspondence: HT. 5694
e-mail:
COMP-COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING-1ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (COMP-COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING-1[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Postal address:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
1049 Bruxelles /Brussel
Belgique /België