EC calls on the Court of Justice for Spanish stevedores ruling

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Category: Puertos

Published on Thursday, 27 November 2014 21:50

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27 Nov 2013

The Commission hopes to have the stevedoring case found in its favour.

Credit: Gwenael Piaser

The European Commission has made a formal complaint to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg regarding Spanish stevedoring practices. It has also advised Spain's Ministry of Transport that it has asked for a decision by the end of 2014. The call for a judgement to be delivered within 14 months is unexpected, since interested groups within Spain believed it might take anything between three and six years for a ruling to be passed.The Spanish press has interpreted the announcement as a clear indication that the Commission expects to have the case found in its favour, a decision that has unofficially been welcomed by Spanish port sources.

In June, the president of Spain's National Ports Authority publicly stated that if the case was sent to the court, it was in the expectation that it would be upheld by the judges.Existing Spanish legalisation makes it virtually impossible for other stevedoring companies in the European Union to set up shop in Spain without first becoming a member of a port's own stevedoring company, which has been interpreted by officials in Brussels as a restriction on working practices.

Currently, unions representing Spanish stevedores are resisting any radical changes to the proposed new collective bargaining agreement struck with port authorities. -

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