Social Values In The European Union: Are They Becoming More Important After The Lisbon Treaty?

Some Comments on C-515/08 Santos Palhota and Others

On 7 October 2010 the ECJ delivered a judgment that was built around the issues discussed in the very well-known posting of workers cases of Laval and Rüffert and Commission v Luxembourg.

The facts of the case tell the story of a Portuguese company Termiso Limitada that posted workers from Portugal to Belgium for work at the shipyard in Antwerp. According to Belgian law, Termiso Limitada failed to produce certain social documents aimed at protection of workers’ rights: to draw up individual account in respect of the posted employees, to pay the statutory minimum wage and additional overtime work payments. The Portuguese company challenged the validity of this national law on the basis of Articles 56 and 57 TFEU on free movement of services.

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