Regulatory Competition in Social Domain and the Revision of the Posted Workers Directive

The chapter looks at the case of posted workers, which is now the most controversial aspect of the debate on regulatory competition in the social domain, despite it being just one of the possible ways in which undertakings established in countries with lower labour costs can exploit their competitive advantage. More in detail, the chapter focuses on the debate concerning regulatory competition in the light of the revision of the Posted Workers Directive (‘PWD’). To this end, the analysis proceeds as follows. First, it looks at the relationship between regulatory competition and posting of workers, by reviewing the original content of the PWD and by critically analysing the case-law of the Court. The second part of the analysis focuses on the revised PWD by taking into consideration the Commission’s Proposal, Member States’ positions and role of the European Parliament in the quest for a better balance between the “economic” and the “social” in this context.