Author ORCID Identifier

Valerio De Stefano: 0000-0003-1050-853X

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-8-2025

Source Publication

Countouris, N., & De Stefano, V. (2025). ‘Not the usual gig’: The personal scope(s) of application of Directive 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform work. European Labour Law Journal, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525251375028

Keywords

Platform Work Directive; personal work; employment contract; employment relationship; solo self-Employed

Abstract

This article examines the complex and innovative personal scope of the EU Platform Work Directive 2024/2831, highlighting its dual framing around the concepts of ‘platform workers’ and the broader category of ‘persons performing platform work’. The authors explore how the Directive partially departs from traditional binary distinctions between employees and self-employed persons by introducing a more nuanced regulatory approach anchored in both labour law and data protection law. The article analyses the scope of key provisions of the Directive, showing how it confers many protections beyond the confines of the employment relationship. It critically evaluates the potential interpretive tensions between Articles 4 and 5 and underscores the Directive’s expansive redefinition of platform work. In doing so, the article positions the Directive as a paradigm shift in EU social regulation – one that embraces a universalistic vision of labour rights grounded in the reality of personal work rather than contractual form and employment status. The authors also reflect on the implications for future EU regulation and international standard-setting processes, particularly those led by the ILO.

Comments

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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