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Commission tables Fair Labour Mobility Package with ESSPASS
The Commission's Fair Labour Mobility Package proposes an ESSPASS digital social-security pass, a first Union framework for third-country qualification recognition, and a stronger European Labour Authority.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 15 September 2026
The Commission has tabled a Fair Labour Mobility Package: a communication accompanied by proposalsEuropa including a European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) regulation digitalising social-security coordination documents
Europa, a directive creating a first Union framework for recognising third-country nationals' qualifications
Europa, and a targeted revision of the European Labour Authority regulation
Europa, with a subsidiarity grid and impact work alongside. The package answers the European Council's March 2026 call for better mutual recognition and skills portability and the One Europe, One Market roadmap to complete the single market by end-2027; around 14 million Union citizens live or work long-term in another Member State, with 1.9 million cross-border workers and 3.64 million posted workers.
The ESSPASS proposal (COM(2026) 980)Europa amends Regulations (EC) No 883/2004, (EC) No 987/2009 and (EU) 2018/1724 on Article 48 TFEU
Europa. Documents proving coverage — starting with portable document A1, which states where contributions are paid, and the European Health Insurance Card held by over 253 million people — become issuable into European Digital Identity Wallets
Europa with a paper alternative carrying a QR code or electronic features, mutually recognised across Member States with instant verification. Requests go fully online under the Single Digital Gateway, A1 request information is converged with the posting e-declaration, and Article 8 imposes binding issuance deadlines set by implementing act
Europa: the EHIC within 24 hours of a complete request
Europa. Verification data are minimised and not retained after verification except to apply the coordination regulations. The subsidiarity grid quantifies the prize: 5.5 million A1 certificates issued in 2024, verification falling from 5–16 minutes (A1) and 2–5 minutes (EHIC) to seconds in-wallet, 12-year savings of EUR 24–72 million for verifiers, EUR 21–64 million for A1 business procedures and EUR 23–69 million for EHIC providers, plus up to EUR 157 million and EUR 120 million in fraud savings.
The qualifications proposal (COM(2026) 990)Europa rests on Article 79(2)(a)-(b) TFEU and covers third-country nationals legally resident or credibly seeking entry — via a visa or permit procedure, a job offer or EU Talent Pool registration — holding qualifications from a third country or another Member State, for regulated-profession access or a migration procedure. Average recognition today costs EUR 1,500 and takes 14.2 months, with 70.4 % of surveyed nationals calling duration a big problem and nearly half of procedures in healthcare. The proposal sets three-month decisions on complete applications with appeal rights, caps requirable documents, requires remote electronic completion, coordinates recognition with migration procedures to end duplicate assessments, commissions non-binding Commission authenticity support, and opens automatic recognition for pre-approved qualifications from accredited institutions in trusted partner systems
Europa. EU citizens with third-country qualifications get at least as favourable treatment through the parallel amendment of Directive 2005/36/EC, which gains a unified digital workflow; separately, the Commission has adopted a common training framework for physiotherapists enabling automatic recognition
Europa.
The communication adds enforcement and matching legs: a revised ELA mandate with joint-inspection risk tools, mediation and EURES support; a pledge to seek ways to clarify the genuine-posting conditions for third-country nationals, one in five posted workers in 2023; work toward an interoperable A1 interface with the posting e-declaration portal via the Internal Market Information System; a posted-worker remuneration calculator piloted from 2027; and a European pension tracking service linking five to seven national systems by 2029. None of this applies yet: each proposal now needs Parliament and Council agreementEuropa. The legal basis is one closing sentence: ESSPASS is proposed under Article 48 TFEU and third-country qualification recognition under Article 79(2)(a)-(b) TFEU
Europa
Europa.
Map posting and hiring workflows against the ESSPASS A1/EHIC digital route and the proposed third-country recognition procedure so teams are ready when the co-legislators adopt them.
Sources
- COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Fair Labour Mobility Package
- COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Subsidiarity Grid
- Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on digitalising the coordination of social security systems, laying down a framework for the European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) and amending Regulations (EC) No 883/2004, (EC) No 987/2009 and (EU) No 2018/1724
- Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the recognition of qualifications of third-country nationals