the Law court of the EU establishes that Spain in matter of harbour job has violated the communitarian norms



Yesterday the Law court of the European Union has emitted a sentence with reference to the resource proposed on November 14, 2013 from the EU commission so that it is declared that Spain, forcing the enterprises that operate in the Spanish ports of general interest to participate that is to the capital of a SAGEP (Sociedad Anónima de Gestión de Estibadores Portuarios), to a limited company that the harbour job manages, and in any case not allowing they to address at the market in order to assume own staff, are permanent are temporary, unless the workers proposed from the SAGEP are not suitable or are insufficient ( on 27 September 2012), it has failed to the obligations on the so-called one straight of plant that is defined by article 49 of the Treaty on the operation of the European Union.

The Court has received the thesis of the EU commission second which Spain, with the system introduced from the new the national law on the ports ( on 23 July 2010), obligating exactly the harbour enterprises to participate to a SAGEP and however not allowing they to address at the market in order to assume own staff, do not comply with the obligations of which to article 49 of the TFUE and she has established that such regime determines a restriction to the plant freedom.

The Law court of the EU has found that if such requirement established for the supply of harbour job in the Spanish ports so much apply to the operators with center in Spain as for those of other Member States of the EU this "can prevent" these last ones to settle in the Spanish ports in order to develop own a cargo handling activity. The Court has moreover received the thesis of the EU commission second which such obligation forces the foreign harbour enterprises to an adaptation that can have implications financial institutions such to dissuade them to settle in the Spanish ports.

Spain has defended itself allegating that these requirement for the formation of the SAGEP and the employment of the harbour workers are necessary as such type of activity constitute a public service of general interest, so as supported from the Harbour Companies of the ports of Genoa and Savona in the proposal for the introduced harbour job in recent days ( on 5 December 2014), and that such restrictions are necessary to safeguard the same workers. According to the EU commission, instead, the service of general interest can be guaranteed with other less invasive methods to the aim to achieve the objectives of continuity and quality of the service of cargo handling and protecting the workers, methods similar to those adopted in other Member States as the management by the harbour enterprises of agencies for the job so that these companies can assume working or freely on a permanent basis temporary or the creation of a managed reserve of harbour job from private companies that work as agencies of temporary job that they supply the workers to the terminalisti.