Introduction

• Author: Natalie Videbaek Munkholm
• Pages: 5-6

5

1Introduction

1.1Basic structure of the national legal system

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, consisting of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe

Islands. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are not members of the European Union.

The Danish judicial system is based on the traditions of civil law as in continental Europe.

In general, rules and legal principles are organised in a number of statutory acts.

Approximately 80 % of the Danish labour market is covered by collective agreements.

Collective agreements cover areas such as minimum wages, working hours, occupational

pension schemes and parental leave rights. Thus, collective agreements play a significant

role in the legal landscape regarding work-related issues. Collective agreements are

concluded by the labour market parties themselves, and the state is not party or in any

other way involved in the negotiation of such agreements.1

A Public Conciliator, as well as the Labour Court, has been set up by the state in order to

assist in resolving conflicts in the labour market. Only in exceptional cases, has it been

necessary to issue statutory legislation and only in instances where the aim was to protect

certain groups of workers whose organisation had insufficient power to protect their

members or were otherwise in need of special protection, and never on the topic of pay.

Statutory legislation concerning the employment relationship between employer and

employee has therefore primarily been limited to instances where it was required as part

of the process of implementing European Union directives.

The Danish welfare model is to a large extent funded by general taxes. Regulation and

interpretation of social security benefits are tied to the Parliament; courts, in their

interpretation of regulations, often follow the intent of the legislators. This suggests that

judicial interpretations of the legislation are very closely linked to the preparatory works

of the legislative act.

In addition to the court system, there are several specialised administrative complaint

boards in Denmark. The Board of Equal Treatment (the Equality Board) was established in

2009. The board handles individual complaints on all grounds of discrimination. Decisions

of the Equality Board can be brought before the courts.

1.2List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives

All Danish legislation is published electronically in Lovtidende,2 the official Law Journal of

the Danish Government. Simultaneously, it is made available in the electronic database

Retsinformation.3

The relevant Danish legislation on equality with regard to the subject of this report is listed

below:

-Consolidation Act No. 156/2019 on Equal Pay (Ligelønsloven);4

-Consolidation No 645/2011 on Equal Treatment of Men and Women as regards

Access to Employment, etc. with later amendments (Ligebehandlingsloven);5

-Consolidation Act No. 1678/2013 on Gender Equality with later amendments

(Ligestillingsloven);6

1For more on the Danish labour market system see Kristiansen, J. (ed) (2015) Europe and the Nordic

Collective-Bargaining Model: The Complex Interaction between Nordic and European Labour Law, Nordic

Council of Ministers.

2www.lovtidende.dk

3www.retsinfo.dk.

4https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=206381.

5https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=137042.

6https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=160578.