Important changes in the name and the competence of joint committees 100, 200, 218, 335 and 337

These changes have been in the air for some time, but on 25 April 2014, 4 Royal Decrees (dated from 17 April 2014) have been published in the Moniteur Belge confirming the changes with regard to joint committees 100, 200, 218, 335 and 337. The most important change regards the activation of joint committee 200 which will in time result in the abolition of joint committee 218.

In this Infoflash, we will inform you of the various amendments which have been made in the joint committees concerned.

JC 335 for social organisations will become the joint committee for the services to and support of the industry and the self-employed.

Therefore their area of competence is currently extended to organisations, the activities of which are directly or indirectly associated with the industry or the self-employed, aiming at providing services and support, without the intention of making profit.

As previously was the case, this joint committee will remain competent for the family allowance funds, the social insurance funds for the self-employed, the holiday funds, the accredit payroll offices for employers and the enterprise counters.

By way of example, the following employers can also be regarded as organisations for the services to and the support of the industry and the self-employed:

• business and employers' organisations provided that they do not come under the employers' organisations that have expressly been excluded;
• professional associations;
• sectoral social security funds, sectoral pension funds and sectoral training institutions;
• vocational training small enterprises;
• research organisations with regard to science and economy;
• organisations that provide services or support to companies and the self-employed;
• organisations that provide services or support to business, employers' or professional organisations.

The name of JC 337 for the non-profit sector is changed to Auxiliary Joint Committee for the non-profit sector.

This joint committee will be competent for organisations within the non-profit sector, the activities of which do not fall within the competence of another joint committee which is specifically competent for this (new competence!). JC 337 replaces JC 100 and JC 200 which have been auxiliary joint committees for the non-profit sector until 17 April 2014.

As previously was the case, JC 337 will remain competent for the private persons who on their own account employ staff for their personal service or for the service of their family.

Remark: The workers who come under the competence of the joint committee for agriculture, the joint committee for horticulture and the joint committee for forestry and the workers with an employment agreement for servants are excluded from this.

The area of competence of the Auxiliary Joint Committee for manual workers (JC 100) and for intellectual workers (JC 200) is amended as follows:

competent for the workers who, respectively, mainly perform manual or intellectual work and their employers who do not come under  their own joint committee, nor under the Auxiliary Joint Committee for the non-profit sector.

Since JC 200 in time will replace JC 218, it will currently become competent for companies exercising a commercial activity. Subsequently, JC 218 will be abolished.

Exceptions

The 4 joint committees above are not competent for the workers employed by:

• the representative workers' and employers' organisations;
• the trade unions which are a member of or a part of these representative organisations;
• the provincial, regional or local legally distinct departments of the representative workers' and employers' organisations, provided that their activities consist of participating in the social dialogue:
• the representative employers' organisations who are member of:
  • the 'Sociaal- Economische Raad van Vlaanderen' (Social Economic Council of Flanders);
  • the 'Conseil Economique et Social de Wallonie' (Social Economic Council of Wallonia);
  • the 'Conseil économique et social de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale' (Social Economic Council of the Brussels Capital Region);
  • or the 'Wirtschafts- und Sozialrat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschafts Belgiens' (Social Economic Council of the German-speaking community);
• the recognised workers' and employers' organisations (art. 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), as well as the members of the interprofessional workers' and employers' organisations included herein.

JC  335 shall also not be competent for:

• • the workers employed by employers coming under the joint committee for the liberal professions (JC 336);
  • the organisations for the services to and the support of the industry and the self-employed, the activities of which come under the competence of a different joint committee which is principally or secondarily competent for this matter.

The Auxiliary Joint Committee (JC 337) is not competent for the organisations of the non-profit sector, the activities of which come under the competence of another joint committee that is principally or secondarily competent for this matter.

On the basis of these Royal Decrees, the workers of JC 100 and JC 200 will pass on to JC 335 and JC 337 as from 17 April 2014, even though the latter joint committees have not become active yet. These will only become active after the appointment in the Moniteur Belge of the members of the joint committee concerned, after which specific collective bargaining agreements will be concluded as well. To this end, the social partners have already signed a Protocol of Agreement with regard to the constitution and the activation of JC 100, JC 200, JC 335 and JC 337.

At the moment of the entry into force of JC 200 and the appointment of its members, JC 218 will be abolished. During their first meeting, the members of JC 200 should conclude collective bargaining agreements reproducing the content of all collective bargaining agreements of JC 218 and declare it entirely applicable to JC 200. Consequently, the collective bargaining agreements which already applied to the workers employed in JC 218 will remain applicable to them and the workers should retain their working and pay conditions.

Of course, it goes without saying that we will keep you informed of all the changes and innovations which will take place within the joint committees concerned.

Sources: Royal Decree amending the Royal Decree of 4 November 1974 establishing and determining the name and the competence of the Auxiliary Joint Committee for manual workers, Moniteur Belge, 25 April 2014; Royal Decree amending the Royal Decree of 4 November 1974 establishing and determining the name and the competence of the Auxiliary Joint Committee for intellectual workers, Moniteur Belge, 25 April 2014; Royal Decree amending the Royal Decree of 14 February 2008 establishing and determining the name and the competence of the Joint Committee for social organisations, Moniteur Belge, 25 April 2014; Royal Decree amending the Royal Decree of 14 February 2008 establishing and determining the name and the competence of the Joint Committee for the non-profit sector, Moniteur Belge, 25 April 2014.