Platform Work in France: Regulating Innovation through Regulatory Innovation?

The emergence of digital labour platforms, where people conduct work for third parties facilitated through either an app, has proved to be a disruptive technology for government regulators, particularly those within labour or transport administration. These firms seek deregulation by arguing gig workers are not employees, but independent contractors. Proponents of the platform economy argue that this flexibility is mutually beneficial, while detractors point to the lack of standard labour rights for platform workers. The task that regulators of the platform economy face is a balancing act of preserving existing labour rights while seeking to support the digital economy. This paper presents the French Autorité des relations sociales des plateformes d'emploi (ARPE) as a case study of regulatory innovation to address digital labour platforms as a regulatory challenge. As the economic-liberal French government was reluctant to intervene in the digital economy, it sought to create a ‘third status’ for platform workers outside of traditional self-employment and employment. This is distinct from attempts to expand traditional employment to the platform economy, such as in the Netherlands, Spain, or the European Commission’s draft directive, and inaction which leaves platform workers as self-employed as in much of CEE. The keystone of this new regulatory approach is ARPE, a new supervisory body (2021) shared between the transport and labour ministries. ARPE seeks to facilitate social dialogue and uphold digital labour standards for platform workers without incorporating them into the usual regulatory framework of the employment relationship. ARPE is particularly significant as perhaps the first agency worldwide specifically tasked with regulating the platform economy. Using both media analysis and early-stage stakeholder interviews, this paper analyses ARPE as a significant case study of digital regulatory innovation to demonstrate the challenges of emerging technologies, both in terms of resources and reputation among those it seeks to regulate.