The European Labour Authority (ELA) was established on 31 July 2019 with the task of strengthening fairness and mutual trust in the European internal market. ELA has also been put in charge of ensuring the fair, simple and effective enforcement of EU labour law.
For this purpose, ELA supports the member states, in particular regarding questions involving cross-border labour mobility. This support encompasses the rules on the free movement of workers and the posting of workers as well as the coordination of social security systems. Moreover, ELA has been tasked with improving the cooperation between member states in the fight against undeclared work.
In particular, ELA pursues the following goals:
- ELA facilitates access to information on rights and responsibilities in the field of EU-wide labour mobility and supports national public authorities to improve their information services for workers;
- It facilitates and reinforces cooperation between the member states for the cross-border enforcement of relevant Union law; this includes the facilitation of joint inspections and the fight against undeclared work;
- ELA acts as a mediator for cross-border problems and facilitates solutions in the case of disputes.
The Federal Government supports ELA in its efforts to promote close cooperation between national public authorities concerning labour mobility. It shares the goal of improving compliance with European rules in practice. For this reason, Germany and the other member states work on these goals on ELA’s Management Board and in a number of working groups led by ELA.