Union of equality: standards for equality bodies in the field of equal treatment between persons, in the field of employment, in matters of social security and in the access to and supply of goods and services

PURPOSE: to establish standards for equality bodies in the field of equal treatment between persons irrespective of their racial or ethnic origin, equal treatment in the field of employment and occupation between persons irrespective of their religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, equal treatment between women and men in matters of social security and in the access to and supply of goods and services.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Directive.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.

BACKGROUND: equality bodies play a key role in the EU's anti-discrimination architecture.

Directive 79/7/EEC prohibits discrimination in social security on the grounds of sex. Directive 2000/43/EC prohibits discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin. Directive 2000/78/EC prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in employment, occupation and vocational training. Directive 2004/113/EC prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex in the access to and supply of goods and services.

Directives 2000/43/EC and 2004/113/EC require Member States to designate a body or bodies for the promotion, analysis, monitoring and support of equal treatment of all persons without discrimination on the grounds they cover.

The existing EU equality Directives do not include provisions on the actual structure and functioning of equality bodies, but only require that they have certain minimum competences, and that they act independently within the exercise of their remit.

Therefore, binding rules are needed to strengthen the role and independence of equality bodies.

CONTENT: the Council’s draft aims at ensuring the functioning of equality bodies according to minimum standards, with a view to improving their effectiveness and guaranteeing their independence, so as to strengthen the application of the principle of equal treatment. It sets minimum standards for equality bodies, addressing their mandate, tasks, independence, structure, powers, accessibility and resources, to ensure that they can, alongside other actors:

- effectively contribute to the enforcement of Directives 79/7/EEC, 2000/43/EC, 2000/78/EC and 2004/113/EC;

- effectively assist victims of discrimination to access justice; and

- promote equal treatment and preventing discrimination.

In concrete terms, the proposal, inter alia:

- provides for the designation of an equal treatment body or bodies by Member States to combat discrimination;

- establishes a general obligation of independence for equal treatment bodies. The specific requirements to ensure this independence relate to the legal structure, accountability, budget, staffing and organisational matters of equality bodies, as well as the rules applicable to their staff and management;

- establishes a general obligation for Member States to provide equality bodies with adequate resources to carry out all their tasks and exercise all their competences effectively;

- clarifies the role of equal treatment bodies in promoting equal treatment and preventing discrimination;

- specifies the way in which equality bodies are required to assist victims after receiving their complaint;

- requires Member States to provide for the possibility of out-of-court dispute settlement;

- allows equality bodies to investigate possible cases of discrimination and to issue a motivated (non-binding) opinion or adopt a (binding) decision, following a complaint or on their own initiative;

- gives the equality bodies litigation powers to ensure compliance with the principle of equal treatment as set out in Directives 2006/54/EC and 2010/41/EU;

- requires accessibility of all services and reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities;

- ensures that equality Bodies are regularly consulted by government and other public institutions on public policies with equality and non-discrimination aspects;

- provides that equality Bodies (i) are obliged to collect data on their own activities, (ii) are entitled to conduct surveys, and (iii) have the possibility to play a coordinating role in the collection of equality-related data by other public or private entities;

- ensures that the equality bodies regularly plan and publicly report on their work and on the state of equal treatment and non-discrimination.