Pearle*- Live Performance Europe, the sector and employers association representing over 10000 organisations across Europe discussed at the 57th General Assembly meeting in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on 24 and 25 May the state of play regarding posting in the sector.

Pearle* members concluded that the sector is heavily impacted by Member State enforcement rules on posting, where they are required to provide disproportionate number of documents in particular compared to the nature and duration of posting in the sector. Live performance organisations are often on tour to perform abroad for as short as one day up to a number of days.

Touring of performances is part of the DNA of the sector to bring the diversity of culture to audiences all across Europe. In other words the reason for posting is motivated on the basis of the reputation of the artist or group or the unique show or performance. This is quite different to the motivation that rules in other sectors where posting is primarily related to  pricing.

Pearle* members also call to address legal gaps where employers in the sector are confronted with genuine legal uncertainty in situation where the social security coordination regulation does not take into account the reality of highly mobile persons. This is a particular problem when artists are contracted to take part in a tour where one has one or two days of rehearsals in the country of the employer before going on tour. This means that in such case the employee is only subject to the social security regime of the country of the employer for one or two days, before being posted. This creates difficulties to obtain A1 form in such cases and leads to legal uncertainty.

Pearle* observes that in the context of the Commission’s and Member States’ goals to combat fraud and abuse, the sector is struggling to be able to continue touring and performing abroad.

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