Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant provisions of the Recast Directive)

• Author: Romina Bartolo
• Pages: 43-46

43

8Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant

provisions of the Recast Directive)

8.1General (legal) context

8.1.1Surveys and reports on the specific difficulties of self-employed workers

No surveys or reports have been published on this topic.

8.1.2Other issues

There are no other issues to report.

8.1.3Overview of national acts

National acts pertaining to self-employed workers are: the Income Tax Act (Chapter 123

Laws of Malta); the Equality for Men and Women Act (Chapter 456 Laws of Malta); the

Equal Treatment in Self-Employment and Occupation Order (SL 460.16).

8.1.4Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals

There are no debates or legislative proposals to report.

8.2Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU

Directive 2010/41 was transposed by means of an amendment to the Equality for Men and

Women Act and an amendment to the Equal Treatment in Self-Employment and

Occupation (ETSEO) Order. The Equality for Men and Women Act includes a definition of

‘self-employed worker’, which is defined in line with Directive 2010/41/EU as ‘all persons

pursuing a gainful activity for their own account, and the spouses of self-employed workers

not being employees or business partners, where they habitually participate in the

activities of the self-employed worker and perform the same tasks or ancillary tasks’.

The ETSEO Order was also amended to include spouses of persons in self-employment or

occupation, not being employees or business partners, ‘where they habitually participate

in the activities of the self-employed or occupied person and perform the same tasks or

ancillary tasks’. Moreover, Article 4A of the ETSEO Order stipulates that no person who is

self-employed or in self-occupation can be discriminated against in relation ‘to the

establishment, equipment or extension of a business or the launching or extension of any

other form of self-employed activity or occupation’.

8.3Personal scope

8.3.1Scope

The Equality for Men and Women Act defines employment as any gainful activity including

self-employment.

8.3.2Definitions

Article 2 of the Equality for Men and Women Act defines self-employment as ‘all persons

pursuing a gainful activity for their own account, and the spouses of self-employed workers

not being employees or business partners, where they habitually participate in the

activities of the self-employed worker and perform the same tasks or ancillary tasks’.