Directive (EU) 2024/2831, adopted in October 2024, addresses working conditions for people working through digital labour platforms such as ride-hailing, food delivery, and online task marketplaces. Its central mechanism is a rebuttable presumption of employment: where a platform controls the performance of work through defined criteria, the person is presumed to be an employee rather than an independent contractor. The platform bears the burden of proving the relationship is genuinely self-employed.
The Directive also introduces specific rules on algorithmic management, a practice through which platforms use automated systems to assign tasks, set prices, and evaluate performance. Platforms must inform workers about the automated systems used, must not use automated systems to make decisions on termination or significant contractual changes without human review, and must ensure workers have access to a human contact point.
Member states have until 2 December 2026 to transpose the Directive. In the Netherlands, the platform work provisions will interact with the ongoing legislative programme to clarify the boundary between employment and self-employment following the Deliveroo ruling of the Hoge Raad (2023) and the planned restoration of the handhaving (enforcement) regime by the Belastingdienst.