Position Paper - Eurociett

Position Paper
Eurociett welcomes the Directive but underscores that the permanent staff of
recruitment companies should be included within its scope
Conditions of entry and residence of third-­‐country nationals in the framework of intra-­‐corporate
transfers
18 May 2012
Eurociett welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to facilitate intra-­‐corporate transfers
of skills to the European Union. The Directive would contribute to boost competitiveness of the EU
economy to achieve the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy.
Eurociett underlines that ambitions to boost competitiveness of the EU through facilitated transfers
of skills also depend on the broader context of flexible labour markets and on the general business
climate.
The single application procedure for managerial and qualified employees to work and reside in the
EU will encourage multinational corporations to temporarily relocate their managerial and technical
employees in other branches for short and specific assignments. A simplified set of rules will enable
businesses to transfer know-­‐how and to harmonise qualifications in every country where they
operate.
Eurociett believes that removing unnecessary burdens and red tape to make temporary intra-­corporate
transfer more feasible for companies and more attractive to the intra-­‐corporate
transferees and their family would contribute to a more efficient allocation of skills within the
company.
Eurociett has closely followed the debate in the European Parliament and in the Council of the
European Union and is concerned that multinational recruitment companies may be excluded from
the scope of the proposed Directive.
Eurociett stresses that multinational recruitment companies should be able to take advantage of
the single application procedure for their own staff as any other multinational company operating
in another sector, regardless of the type of activities or business.
It is paramount that the European Parliament and the Council avoid generic terminology in their
amendments on article 2 of the proposed Directive when designating the temporary work agencies’
employees. Improper wording creates confusion and legal uncertainty on the application of the
Directive.

Indeed, temporary work agencies have two types of employees: their permanent staff, employed as
HR consultants, branch managers, branch office assistants; and the temporary agency workers,
employed by the temporary work agencies but assigned to user companies.
Notably, Eurociett warns that proposing language on article 2.2, listing the cases excluded from the
scope of the proposed Directive, such as “third-­‐country nationals employed by a temporary work
agency” would exclude all the permanent staff of the recruitment companies altogether from the
simplified procedures put in place by the proposed Directive 1 .
Eurociett invites not to confuse employees of the recruitment companies under a direct
employment relationship, who should be able to be included in the scope of the Directive, with
those recruited under a triangular relationship (temporary agency workers).
Eurociett therefore urges the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union not to
discriminate recruitment companies from taking advantage of the single application procedure for
their directly hired staff.
With a view to the functioning of the labour market, Eurociett recalls that the role of multinational
staffing companies is critical to organise labour migration.
There are 128,000 private employment agencies worldwide and with a network of 176,000 branches
and almost one million internal staff. Such network provides multinational staffing companies with
extensive knowledge of the needs in the labour markets and puts them in the ideal position to
organise labour migration where labour demands cannot be locally satisfied.
It is important for multinational staffing companies to be able to take advantage of the single
application procedure to assign third-­‐country nationals under the triangular relationship to cater to
the needs of user clients in the EU labour market.
This is particularly necessary with high-­‐skilled workers holding managerial positions that are in
demand within the EU, but often not available within the company for an intra-­‐corporate exchange.
It is in this case that multinational staffing companies could use the single application procedure to
assign their employees in the triangular relationship to quickly satisfy the requests of user
companies.
A swift response to the needs of European businesses enables them to maintain their
competitiveness and foster economic growth. In addition, including temporary agency workers in
the scope of the proposed Directive would further contribute exchange of skills and knowledge
between the EU and third countries.
1 Cf. the document from the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Working Party on Integration,
Migration and Expulsion, 17247/1/10 of 8 December 2010.
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For this reason, Eurociett recommends to go back to the wording of article 2 of the Directive as
proposed by the European Commission, which excludes from the scope only cases that are already
disciplined by other legal instruments, either by other Directives or by international agreements
between the Union and third countries 2 .
For more information, contact:
Sandro Pettineo
Policy Advisor
sandro.pettineo@ciett.org
About Eurociett:
As the European confederation of private employment agencies, Eurociett is the authoritative voice
representing the common interests of the agency work industry in Europe. Eurociett gathers 31 national
federations from EU and EFTA countries, and 6 of the largest international staffing companies as corporate
members. Its main objective is to seek greater recognition for the positive role private employment
agencies play in the labour market.
More info at www.eurociett.eu
2 Directive 2005/71/EC, Directive 96/71/EC, and article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union; COM(2010) 378 final.
-­‐3/3-­‐