17 - Labour Law and Competition Law Under French Regulation

Summary

In France, the question of the impact of the French competition law on trade union actions or collective agreements arose only very rarely and rather late. Because of historical differentiation between both matters, the institutions of labour law do not represent a subject of competition law and they are not subject to any express legal exemption. Labour law does not provide for such a conflict either. Consequently, trade union institutions and collective agreements are generally analysed according to the common criteria of competition law and more particularly with regard to European competition law. However, the subject of the relationship between competition law and labour law has recently been revived with the recent inclusion in the Labour Code of the competitive control of extension orders for collective agreements. In addition, discussions are underway on how to enable self-employed platform workers to collectively negotiate their terms and conditions of employment with digital labour platforms, without breaching anti-competitive practices law.