The Assembly welcomes the political declaration adopted at
the Council of Europe High-Level Conference on Social Rights – The
European Social Charter, on 19 March 2026, and urges member States
to better use the benchmarks of the Charter, together with other
international instruments, in combating social dumping and labour
exploitation more effectively. To this end, it notably recommends
that member States:
6.1 strengthen
national legal foundations and institutions underpinning work-related
rights by using the norms of the revised Charter (particularly Articles
2 to 4, 18 to 20 and Article E) and accept additional provisions
of the Charter with a view to combating social dumping more effectively;
6.2 incentivise socially just economic models that provide
for stable and secure employment putting economic interests and
socio-economic rights on an equal footing;
6.3 protect whistle-blowers who report labour exploitation
to authorities, establish safe channels for such reporting and build
“firewalls” between labour law enforcement and immigration authorities, empowering
exploited workers to claim back wages without fear of expulsion
or loss of residence;
6.4 strengthen social partnership, ensure freedom of association
and guarantee the right to organise by expanding sectoral collective
agreements to cover all workers, especially in high-risk, low-wage sectors
and involving social partners in multistakeholder field inspections;
6.5 significantly increase resources (funding and staff) for
labour inspectorates to meet ILO’s minimum benchmarks, enable risk-based
inspections and ensure effective, dissuasive sanctions for breaches
of labour legislation;
6.6 harmonise controls and strengthen cross-border collaboration,
including with the European Labour Authority and tax authorities,
invoking, where appropriate, the Protocol amending the Convention on
Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (CETS No. 208);
6.7 ensure a minimum living wage and wage parity for all workers
in host countries, banning zero-hours contracts, and curb the gender
pay gap;
6.8 promote integrated, multistakeholder co-operation by replicating,
where applicable, Nordic models of cross-agency (labour, migration,
police, tax) centres for intelligence sharing, data exchange, risk
analysis and enforcement, focusing on high-risk and cross-border
cases;
6.9 mandate compulsory licensing and certification of temporary
employment agencies, set up risk evaluation systems, ensure sanctions
for non-compliance and ban agencies that operate as shell companies
or without real economic activity in the country;
6.10 enhance regulation and accountability for subcontracting
by mandating joint liability across the subcontracting chain, imposing
strict limits on subcontracting levels and ensuring equal conditions, wages
and access to remedies for all workers, taking inspiration from
Swiss and Belgian enforcement models;
6.11 as appropriate, ensure effective enforcement of relevant
European Union directives, including for third-country nationals
and workers recruited through temporary employment agencies;
6.12 provide workers, especially migrant and posted workers,
with accessible, multilingual information on their rights and contact
points for legal aid, including through trade unions;
6.13 combat false self-employment and informal employment by
establishing clear criteria to classify workers as employees, extending
protections to platform workers, increasing supervision of sectors known
for bogus self-employment and using targeted amnesties and simplified
registration for regularisation purposes;
6.14 advance and mainstream corporate social responsibility
by enforcing due diligence in supply chains, which requires companies
to identify, audit and tackle the risks of social dumping. Public authorities
and private firms should refuse to work with contractors or suppliers
engaged in exploitative practices;
6.15 consider adopting positive measures and incentives that
reward virtuous enterprises for embracing high social norms for
their workers;
6.16 support negotiations aimed at establishing an international
legally binding instrument based on the United Nations Guiding Principles
on Business and Human Rights and implement the guiding principles
laid down in Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 of the Committee of Ministers
to member States on human rights and business.
