The Regulation of Economically Dependent Self-employed Work in Spain: A Critical Analysis and a Comparison with Italy

In 2010 the EU adopted an own-initiative opinion on “New trends in self-employed work: the case of financially dependent self-employed work”. This Opinion recognises for the first time the existence in the European sphere of the “Financially Dependent Self-Employed Worker” (FDSEW or, in Spain, TRADE) and offers the possibility of establishing a set of common rights for all workers at European level, whether they are employed or self-employed. To date, the countries of the EU have maintained different positions with regard to this phenomenon and, only a minority of States have legislated or recognised the FDSEW in one way or another. These countries are Italy, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain. This paper analyzes the hypothetical improvements introduced into the individual TRADE-customer relationships. The evaluation must be made based on some of the service provision conditions for TRADEs regulated by the law which would be imposed on the conditions agreed in any individual contract that contradicted them. These conditions relate to working time and breaks from professional activity, extinction of contracts, justified interruptions in professional activity and jurisdictional competence.