Brussels formally notifies eight member states over transparent working conditions rules

The European Commission has sent letters of formal notice to eight member states – Czechia, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland – for failing to fully align national legislation with Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions. The notices were part of the Commission’s July infringement package, published on 8 July 2026, and each government has two months to respond, putting the deadline in early September. Portugal’s government has publicly said it disagrees with the Commission’s analysis and considers the directive adequately transposed through its 2023 Decent Work Agenda law.

The directive requires employers to give all workers clear, upfront information about essential employment terms – working hours, pay, job stability – and strengthens protection against unpredictable scheduling, last-minute shift assignments and charges for mandatory training. The transposition deadline was 1 August 2022, so the eight countries are four years past it.

Why this matters

If you work in one of the eight countries, the practical gaps the Commission has identified concern your right to written, complete information about your terms of employment – something remote and cross-border workers rely on more than most, since informal office-based clarification is not available to them. A formal notice is the first stage of infringement proceedings: if responses are unsatisfactory, reasoned opinions and ultimately Court of Justice referral can follow, which historically pushes governments into legislative fixes. Watch for national employment-law amendments in these countries over the coming year.

Context

Four of the eight are RWE priority countries (Ireland, Estonia, Greece, the Netherlands). The same July package included letters of formal notice to 17 member states over the revised Single Permit Directive (2024/1233), which speeds up combined work-and-residence permits for non-EU nationals – a parallel signal that Brussels is pressing enforcement on both working conditions and labour migration files at once.