Ensuring adequate remuneration for vulnerable solo self-employed through collective bargaining – EU antitrust prohibition as a limit?

Abstract

After the research project “The right to adequate remuneration for solo-entrepreneurs” has already shown that the international legal obligations ratified by European States require effective protection of an appropriate level of remuneration for solo self-employed workers, and ways to fulfil these obligations in national law have been identified, the question arises as to whether and to what extent remuneration regulations in favour of solo self-employed workers would be compatible with EU primary law. With regard to the collective negotiation of minimum wages, the extent to which the negotiation process and the agreements reached would be compatible with the prohibition of cartels under Art. 101 TFEU must be analysed. For this purpose, it is necessary to examine the relationship between EU and national antitrust prohibitions, the extent to which a cartel exception in favour of solo self-employed persons can be inferred from the case law of the CJEU and the content and consequences of the current 'Guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons' of the European Commission.