Skip to content Bruno Giordano, the director of the Italian National Labor Inspectorate, stated: “This bilateral protocol allows for mutual collaboration between the National Labor Inspectorate and its Romanian counterpart to protect workers in both states from all forms of abuse, exploitation, and mistreatment. This will be particularly useful in combating fake cooperatives and the abuse of international posting, which constitute a fraud against the welfare state.”
The Objectives of the Protocol
The agreement was signed by the Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Andrea Orlando, and the Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity of Romania, Marius-Constantin Budai, and aims to improve cooperation between the two monitoring and control bodies regarding:
- The prevention and counteraction of illegal activities related to transnational posting, undeclared work, and illegal mediation;
- The protection of the rights of workers who carry out activities in the territory of the other state, ensuring the correct implementation of the respective national laws and European regulations.
The Exchange of Information Between Authorities
To combat illegal work, discrimination, and exploitation, the Italian National Labor Inspectorate and the Romanian Labor Inspectorate will implement an exchange of information and data concerning companies operating in their respective territories, with particular attention to the following aspects:
- Wages and working conditions;
- Irregularities identified during inspections, including any sanctions applied;
- Identification of violations of workers’ rights arising from the respective national legislations and European regulations, including cases of undeclared work, non-genuine posting, or illegal mediation of labor from one state to the territory of the other, as well as the measures taken;
- Compliance with current health and safety obligations in the workplace, including the prevention of COVID-19 transmission, within the limits of the competencies and duties of the inspection staff of each state;
- Work-related injuries of workers from one state occurring on the territory of the other state, within the limits of the competencies and duties of the control authorities involved in the Memorandum.
The Impact on Transnational Posting
The implementation of the agreement, for which Italy and Romania will develop a common Action Plan, thus represents a further strengthening of the monitoring powers of the Italian and Romanian authorities. The non-compliance with obligations related to transnational posting is therefore becoming increasingly risky: along with the measures provided for by the Decree-Law of October 21, 2021, these provisions indeed tighten the grip on illegal work, non-genuine posting, and exploitation, providing greater tools for the inspection bodies to verify the salary level paid to posted workers and the working conditions applied.