Screening report on Chapter 19: Social policy and employment
With the purpose of fully meeting the benchmarks for the opening of the Chapter on Social policy and employment, the Action plan on legal alignment and strengthening administrative capacity for the implementation and enforcement of the Acquis Communautaire was drawn up (30 August 2007).
The Conclusion of the Commission Progress Report for 2007 states that some progress has been made on this chapter and a good level of legal alignment has been reached. According to the Report, certain gaps (and/or shortcomings) still remain in relation to completing legal alignment and to strengthening administrative capacity, which is a key element for the accession negotiations on this chapter.
In the framework of the visit of the European Commission Representative of the Directorates General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (DG EMPL), a meeting was held (on 18 December 2007) to discuss progress made in implementing the Action plan on legal alignment and strengthening administrative capacity for the implementation and enforcement of the Acquis Communautaire in the area of chapter 19, and the following was established:
time limits set by the Action Plan must be adhered to (this concerns particularly anti-discrimination and equal opportunities);
concern was expressed in regard to the announced National Plan to Combat Discrimination.
The Report states that shortcomings remain in relation to legal alignment and administrative capacity.
Specific sections of Chapter 19
1.LABOUR LAW - working time
Labour legislation takes the form of legally binding directives, as do the areas of health and safety at work, anti-discrimination and equal opportunities. Labour legislation of the Republic of Croatia has reached a good level of alignment, but there are still parts of it that are not aligned, namely "sectoral regulations".
Further harmonisation of general labour regulation (i.e. Labour Act, Official Gazette No. 38/95; 54/95; 65/95; 17/01; 82/01 and 114/03) is needed, particularly as regards the formulation of specific legal provisions, such as maximum overtime work or minimum annual leave, as the aforementioned Act is not fully aligned with the requirements of Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time.
In this area of legal alignment, the following legislation has been adopted in 2007:
Amendments to the Air Traffic Act (Official Gazette No. 46/07) with the aim of transposing the acquis in the field of working hours for mobile workers in civil aviation;
Ordinance on working time of aircraft crew members (Official Gazette No. 54/07) transposing Directive 2000/79/EC; and
Railway Safety Act (Official Gazette No. 40/07) transposing Directive 2005/47/EC, based on which the drafting of the Ordinance on working time, duration of shifts and rest times for excellent railway workers is underway.
In addition, Croatian legislation does not have special regulations concerning working hours for workers on board fishing vessels.
2.LABOUR LAW – working conditions
Protection prescribed by Croatian labour legislation and collective agreements did not apply to employees of a foreign employer, as required by Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, and thus the relevant concepts of the Directive were built into the new Foreigners Act (Official Gazette No. 79/07) adopted on 13 July 2007 and coming into effect on 1 January 2008. Moreover, in order to implement the principle of "pro rata temporis" and enforce Council Directive 97/81/EC concerning the framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, a draft amendment to the Pension Insurance Act was drawn up, granting the insured part-time workers the same pension insurance rights as are guaranteed to insured full-time workers.
As regards other working conditions, the provisions of Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991 on an employer's obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship are built into national legislation, as well as the provisions of Council Directive 91/383/EEC of 25 June 1991 supplementing the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or temporary employment relationship and Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work.
The basic principles of Directive 2002/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 80/987/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer (text with EEA relevance) have been introduced into Croatian legislation; the problem of additional alignment remains to be solved, particularly as regards restrictions until now in force in case of trans-national business activity and protection of employees working for a foreign employer in bankruptcy.
Relevant legislation has equally been adopted with regard to information and consultation of workers, notably in the cases of collective redundancies and transfer of undertakings, and the establishment and operation of works councils has been regulated in accordance with Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002. However, up until now there were no normative prerequisites for the regulation of the establishment of European Works Councils, or the involvement of workers in the management of European Companies and European Groupings; thus, the Act Amending the Companies Act (Official Gazette No. 107/07) and the Introduction of the Societas Europea and European Economic Interest Grouping Act (Official Gazette No. 107/07) were adopted in 2007, providing the basis for the implementation of Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees, and Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 supplementing the European Company Statute with regard to the involvement of employees, in further amendments to the Labour Law.
As regards Council Directive 2003/72/EC of 22 July 2003 Supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees, in addition to changes in Labour law, an amendment to the Cooperatives Act has been foreseen.
In reference to an earlier remark that gaps/shortcomings remain in relation to administrative capacity, it is stated at a later point that the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Internal Organisation of the State Inspector's Office (Official Gazette No. 127/07) increases the number of inspectors by additional 53 officers, of which 27 in the field of labour relations, creating a precondition for the realisation of activities planned for strengthening administrative capacity of inspection and surveillance bodies. A separate Education Department will be formed for the education of inspectors; the legal framework for this is provided by the above-mentioned 2007 Regulation.
As regards labour relations, the main administrative body is the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship and its Directorate for Labour and the Labour Market. In July 2007, a new Regulation on the internal organisation of the Directorate was adopted, modifying the organisational structure of the Directorate. Five new employees were hired through vacancy announcement and the call for applications continues with the aim of hiring 42 additional employees.
As far as the situation in the judiciary field goes, there are no courts specialised in labour disputes in the Republic of Croatia; instead, specialist training is being provided for judges and court councils for labour disputes in courts of general jurisdiction and of all instances. In the majority of municipal courts in which there are no conditions for the establishment of a Department of Labour Disputes, the latter fall within the competence of a special judge, while County courts (ruling on complaints) have special councils deciding on labour law cases only. In addition, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia has councils with competence for deciding on special remedies in labour disputes. Professional development of judges is provided in a continuous manner in the framework of the JudicialAcademy, where specialist training of judges is also conducted. The Judicial Academy was established as an institute in the framework of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia in 2004 and consists of a central Institute and five district offices through which continuous training of judges and other public legal officials, counsellors and judicial and district attorney clerks in the judicial bodies of the Republic of Croatia is being provided.
3.HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK
The legislative framework in the field of health and safety at work has been partly aligned with the acquis communautaire; the transposition of the remaining regulations of the acquis is foreseen in the 2008 Action Plan.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (Official Gazette No. 59/96, 114/03) has been aligned with Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers and with Council Recommendation of 18 February 2003 concerning the improvement of the protection of the health and safety at work of self-employed workers.
The Commission progress report for 2007 states that good progress has been made in the field of health and safety at work.
As regards requirements of specific Directives, Croatian national legislation has thus far been aligned as follows:
(a)Ordinance on occupational safety and health for workplaces, ancillary facilities and work areas (Official Gazette No. 5/84 and 42/05) is aligned with Council Directive 89/654/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace (first individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(b)Ordinance on the use of personal protective equipment (Official Gazette No. 39/06) is aligned with Council Directive 89/656/EEC of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace (third individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(c)Ordinance on safety signs (Official Gazette No. 29/05) is aligned with Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (tenth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(d)Ordinance on safety and health protection at work with a computer (Official Gazette No. 69/05) is aligned with Council Directive 90/270/EEC of 29 May 1990 on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment (fifth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(e)Ordinance on occupational safety and health requirements for manual handling of loads (Official Gazette No. 42/05) is aligned with Council Directive 90/269/EEC of 29 May 1990 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads where there is a risk particularly of back injury to workers (fourth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(f)Ordinance on technical control of electrical substations, fittings and devices intended for work in spaces potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres (Official Gazette No. 39/06) is aligned with Directive 1999/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1999 on minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres (fifteenth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(g)Decision on technical standards for statutory certification of fishing vessels (Official Gazette No. 77/07) is aligned with Council Directive 93/103/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for work on board fishing vessels (thirteenth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(h)Ordinance on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling (Official Gazette No. 40/07) is aligned with Directive 92/91/EEC concerning the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling;
(i)Ordinance on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in surface and underground mineral extracting industries (Official Gazette No. 40/07) is aligned with Council Directive 92/104/EEC of 3 December 1992 on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in surface and underground mineral-extracting industries (twelfth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(j)Ordinance on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (Official Gazette No. 40/07) is aligned with Directive 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (sixth individual directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC);
(k)Ordinance on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work (Official Gazette No. 40/07) is aligned with Directive 83/477/EEC of 25 June 1991 amending Directive 83/477/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work (second individual directive within the meaning of Article 8 of Directive 80/1107/EEC) and Directive 2003/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 March 2003 amending Council Directive 83/477/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. It is important to note that that the following Acts have been adopted with the aim of protecting the rights of workers professionally exposed to asbestos: Mandatory Health Control of Workers Exposed to Asbestos Act (Official Gazette No. 79/07), Retirement Pension Eligibility Conditions for Workers Professionally Exposed to Asbestos Act (Official Gazette No. 79/07) and Compensation for Workers Professionally Exposed to Asbestos Act (Official Gazette No. 79/07);
(l)Ordinance on the minimum safety and health requirements for improved medical treatment on board vessels, boats and yachts (Official Gazette No. 14/08) is aligned with Council Directive 92/29/EEC of 31 March 1992 on the minimum safety and health requirements for improved medical treatment on board vessels.
Act Amending the Act providing the list of occupational diseases (Official Gazette No. 107/07), aligns the national list of occupational diseases with the Commission Recommendation of 19 September 2003 concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases.
In addition to the aforementioned legislation, the final proposals for an Ordinance on the minimum safety and health requirements for use of work equipment by workers at work (89/655/EEC), Ordinance on the protection of workers from exposure to noise at work (2003/10/EC), Ordinance on the minimum health and safety requirements related to exposure of workers to the risks arising from electromagnetic fields (2004/40/EC) and Ordinance on the protection at work at temporary or mobile construction sites (92/57/EEC) have been drawn up.
In this part of the legislation too, administrative capacity, i.e. implementation and supervision capacity of the relevant bodies, remains insufficient.
It is necessary to continue with the training of occupational safety inspectors with the aim of increasing their knowledge and mobility. It is also essential to technologically develop the Safety at Work Department, through the introduction of appropriate, state-of-the-art equipment.
Thus, the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Internal Organisation of the State Inspector's Office (Official Gazette No. 12/07) increases the number of inspectors by additional 53 officers, of which 26 in the field of occupational safety and health. The total number of newly employed inspectors in the fields of labour and occupational safety (throughout 2007 and 2008) is 180; the employee expenses item at the State Inspector's Office is to be increased by 32,200.00 kn in the course of 2008 for the purposes of additional employment. The possibilities offered under component I of the IPA pre-accession programme will most likely be benefited from – for example, a project proposal aimed at strengthening the capacity and equipment of labour inspectors and occupational safety inspectors is currently under consideration.
4.SOCIAL DIALOGUE
A good legislative and institutional framework for social dialogue has been put in place in the Republic of Croatia[1]. At national level, the National Economic and Social Council was established in 1991, while at county level 20 tripartite regional economic and social councils were established. Six trade union confederations and one association of employers participate in this dialogue. Representatives of social partners are also appointed as equal partners (without voting rights) into four committees of the Croatian Parliament. Representatives of social partners also participate as equal partners in governing bodies of specific public and state organisations, and are members of bodies established in the area of accession negotiations for full membership of the Republic of Croatia in the EU.
The issue of representativeness of social partners was one of the pending issues defined in the last screening (i.e. unclear representativeness criteria for employers' organisations).
The issue of trade union representativeness and their participation in the Economic and Social Council was regulated as far back as 1999 by the Act on the criteria of representation of higher-level trade union associations in tripartite bodies at national level. The issue of defining the number and composition of the trade union negotiation committee for the conclusion of collective agreements remains open; it was agreed (by consensus) to launch the initiative for the drafting of new legislation governing this area. The criteria for the representation of trade union associations in tripartite bodies laid down by the afore-mentioned 1999 Act are to be modified in the new legislation. Expert help was sought from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for these activities; at the time this report was being drawn up, the experts from the Organisation were in Zagreb with the aim of drawing up draft legislation.
In addition, the establishment of sectoral councils in whose work representatives of representative associations of trade unions and employers, and, where necessary, ministry representatives, would participate has been agreed on with the representatives of social partners.
As far as employers are concerned, work on the definition of representativeness criteria for employers' associations began in 2005, when the need arose for two employers' organisations founded in 2004 to participate in the work of relevant tripartite bodies. Up until then there was no pluralism in the tripartite social dialogue, as the Croatian Employers' Association was the only higher-level association registered in accordance with the provisions of Labour Act. The afore-mentioned criteria were defined in cooperation with and with the assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and concern qualitative and quantitative indicators. A working group was set up with a view to establishing and evaluating the representativeness of the existing higher-level employers' associations, all data communicated by employers' associations were verified, meetings were held in their offices and as a result the Economic and Social Council adopted the working group report at its session of 19 July 2007 and adopted the conclusion establishing that the only employers' association meeting the representativeness criteria for higher-level employers' associations is the Croatian Employer' Association.