'Regime shopping' across (blurring) boundaries

Abstract

This book chapter identifies and explores the (blurring) boundaries between the legal regimes for labour mobility across the EU. In the context of - what is sometimes called - 'regime shopping' a close look is taken into the law on freedom of movement within the EU. Several categories of transnational labour mobility are distinguished. The central focus is on the distinction between movement of migrant workers and movement of posted workers. It is concluded that legal criteria such as 'the labour market access test' and notions of what is temporary and what is habitual in the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) and the Rome I Regulation do not result in a clear divide between the two regimes for workers' mobility. Exemplary is the special case of cross-border temporary agency workers, who seem to fall under both regimes concurrently.