SIDE-CIC - Social Identity Cards in Construction – Social Dialogue Project

Brief description and main aims:

The construction industry in Europe has evolved dramatically over the past few decades, both  in terms of technology, but also the sociology of the people working on and running  construction sites. The sector can take advantage of the new technologies to improve  transparency on construction sites, especially in the context of the growing fragmentation and  increasing mobility of workers in the construction industry. This has led to more complexity of  subcontracting chains and demands new ways to identify and verify workers and companies  present on construction sites. 

Across Europe, numerous sectoral social ID card schemes have been developed at national,  regional, and local levels, all with various characteristics and functions. The project will identify  good practice, the possibility for interconnection and propose input for a possible framework in  the area of sectoral social ID cards. 

The objective of this project is to guarantee the enforcement of EU rules, create a more  transparent environment for workers, employers, and labour authorities and to foster fairer  mobility of labour in the construction sector. The approach that the European social partners  propose is: 

1. To map the current situation of social identity cards in the EU, particularly as they  pertain to the construction sector. 
2. To carry out a feasibility study, focusing on the interconnectivity of the existing national  schemes and contribute to defining the needs and possible regulatory gaps in the EU  framework. The study should address two main aspects: legal and technical  framework. 

Why FIEC is dealing with this topic:

In the project conclusions on social ID cards in the construction industry carried out by  EFBWW and FIEC in 2015, it recommended that “possible EU-initiatives related to social ID  card schemes should serve as a complementary tool to the existing national social ID  schemes and must demonstrate a clear added value to the national scheme”. Similarly, a key  question, which was raised during the 2015 project proceedings and which, regrettably, could  not be resolved within the scope of the study, relates to the use, storage and processing of  personal data. This question should be seen in relation to the various objectives of the social  ID card schemes and the possibility to cross-border data. 

Considering the latest developments in this field it became clear that the approach taken by  the present project should be a different one. Following an in-depth mapping exercise, the  main idea of this project – i.e., the feasibility part of the project – is to focus on the  interconnectivity of the existing national schemes (that would opt to be involved in this study)  and shall also contribute to defining the needs and possible regulatory gaps in the EU  framework.