Lawyers Challenge Gibraltar’s Application Of EU Employment Law

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

11 August 2005

Two Gibraltar-based lawyers have filed a complaint with the European Commission against the United Kingdom relating to Gibraltar's application of employment regulations for individuals from the new EU member states, according to a report in the Gibraltar Chronicle.

Alexander Broch, a lawyer with dual British and Danish nationality, and his Swedish colleague, Fredrik Green are arguing that the transitional regulations in Gibraltar on the employment of individuals from the EU accession states, located mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, discriminate against migrant workers because they are more restrictive than the rules in the UK.

Currently, workers from the new EU member states must apply for a valid worker permit from the Gibraltar authorities before being given permission to work in the jurisdiction. However, the workers entering the UK merely have to register within 30 days of arrival in the country.

The case rests on the fact that Gibraltar joined the European Union as part of the United Kingdom.

According to the report, the complaint states that: “The most significant difference between these transitional regulations is that in Gibraltar there exists the possibility to deny a worker a work permit and in doing so, prevent that person from working in Gibraltar. This possibility does not exist in the United Kingdom, where the transitional regulations cannot so hinder anyone from registering as a worker.”

Mr Broch told the Chronicle that if the EC upholds the complaint, it may well open to door to compensation claims from the many Eastern European workers who have tried to find work in Gibraltar.

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