On 8 December 2023, the Council presidency and the European Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act.
The Act aims to ensure that AI systems in the EU respect fundamental rights and values, while stimulating innovation and investment in AI in Europe.
Both Parliament and Council must formally adopt the agreed text for it to become EU law.
The AI Act should apply two years after it enters into force.
It follows the first consultation phase launched on 11 April 2023, which ended with identifying six main areas for reform, subject to further consultation among the social partners.
The main areas of focus for further consultation concern the modification of the notion of 'transnational issue' and 'consultation,' limiting the possibility for management to classify information as 'confidential'; shortening the timeframe for setting up EWCs, improving the ability of EWCs and their members to enforce their legal rights, and ensuring that all EWCs are fully subject to the EU legal framework.
The second consultation phase will end on 4 October 2023.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work announced a new Healthy Workplaces Campaign for 2023-2025, which will be launched in October 2023, aiming to raise awareness of occupational safety and health in the digital age throughout Europe.
The campaign seeks to create a greater understanding of the digital-related occupational safety and health challenges and opportunities at work, promoting a culture of risk prevention.
On 3 July 2023, Law 85 converting, with amendments, the Decree Law 48/2023 on "Urgent measures for social inclusion and access to employment" was published in the Official Gazette.
It aims to ensure greater flexibility for personnel management, introduces amendments to the discipline of fixed-term employment contracts and simplifies information obligations under the Transparency Decree.
It requires employers with more than 50 employees will have an obligation to have an internal reporting channel to which employees can report misconduct.
It transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on protecting persons who report breaches of EU law (the Whistleblowing Directive).
On 29 June 2023, Eurofound published a new research report on Minimum Wages in 2023.
The report analyses gross statutory minimum wages valid in 2023 in a highly inflationary environment and maps wage levels in collective agreements for some low-paid workers in countries without a statutory minimum wage, comparing wage trends and longer-term trends in labor productivity.
It also examines the early impacts of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages.
On 12 June 2023, the EU Council agreed on the proposal for a Directive onimproving the working conditions in platform work and on a general approach. The proposal introduces two key improvements. It supports the determination of the correct employment status of digital platforms workers and establishes the first EU rules on the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
On 21 February 2023, Spain published in the Official State Journal Law 2/2023 on protecting persons who report breaches of law and combating corruption.
It entered into force on 13 March, transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019, known as the Whistleblowing Directive.