Towards a preventive approach against abusive subcontracting practices in the European construction sector

The research finds that current legislation at the EU-level regulating subcontracting is inadequate. There is no EU legislation that sets out specifically to regulate subcontracting and where subcontract­ing is addressed, such as in the Posting of Workers Enforcement Directive, the Temporary Agency Work Directive, EU OSH legislation and the Public Procurement Directives, it falls woefully short. To address this gap, the research considers two possi­ble legislative paths: firstly, updating the existing acquis or, secondly, developing a specific EU instru­ment on subcontracting.