Tackling Undeclared Work in the Construction Industry: A Learning Resource

This learning resource paper is part of the work programme 2017-2018 of the European Platform tackling undeclared work established through Decision (EU) 2016/344.

On 3 May 2017, the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work organised a seminar in Brussels on Tools and approaches to deal with undeclared work in the construction sector. The seminar brought together Platform members and observers from 21 EU Member States (MS) and Norway (EEA) representing labour inspectorates and social security, tax and customs authorities, as well as national and European social partner representatives from the construction sector. It provided participants with an opportunity to exchange and discuss constructionrelated initiatives, challenges and good practices. Participants reflected on the pros and cons of different national and bilateral efforts to monitor and tackle undeclared construction work more effectively. They also assessed national and transnational initiatives.

This learning resource paper builds on the background paper prepared before the seminar (Cremers 2017) and describes the seminar outcomes. The first section looks at the extent and nature of undeclared work in the construction sector. This is followed by an overview of the various policy approaches to tackling undeclared work in the construction sector, along with the discussions which took place at the seminar about various policy approaches and measures, particularly in relation to effective detection on construction sites, and tackling undeclared work in supply chains.