The same, but completely different: how to standardize platform work in Serbia?

The European Commission estimates that revenues from the digital economy in the EU in 2021 amounted to EUR 20 billion. In the EU alone, there are more than 500 digital work platforms and around 28 million workers working through them. Serbia is not lagging behind when it comes to this trend, for at least a decade it has been one of the leading countries in Europe and globally when it comes to digital platform work. It is estimated that at least 100,000 people from Serbia work in this way. Additionally, there is an increasing number of those who are engaged through on-location platforms such as Glovo, Wolt, Mister D, CarGo and the like. However, this is where the similarities between the EU and Serbia end. While the EU is intensively considering how, through the new Directive on regulating the position of platform workers, which is expected to be adopted at the end of 2022, to provide these workers with labor and social rights and to provide guidelines for solving these issues at the national level in the member states, the Government of the RS and the Tax Administration of the RS are looking for solution for these workers within the existing regulatory framework.
 
Relying on the EU analyzes and reports, the latest results of the Center's research and the transfer of knowledge through European and global initiatives to improve the socio-economic status of platform workers in which the Center is involved, we strive to indicate appropriate labor-legal solutions for regulating the status of platform workers at the location and via the Internet. In the analysis of the position of platform workers over the Internet, we rely on Gigmetar as a statistical instrument that provides information on trends in the digital labor market in Serbia and the region, and in the analysis of the position of on location platform workers , we rely on the Center's other research on platform work. We are also actively participating in the preparation of proposals to supplement Serbia's negotiating position for Chapter 19 on the phenomenon of digital work.