Implementing the Principle of Equal Treatment between Persons: Complementary Impact Assessment of the Proposed Horizontal Directive

In 2008, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Directive to address discrimination outside the workplace based on the grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation, and on religion or belief. While the European Parliament and Member States generally supported the proposal, some Member States have expressed concerns, among others, in relation to the potential costs of the proposed Directive, its lack of legal certainty and the lack of assessment of the costs and benefits that its implementation would place on service providers.

This study has therefore been commissioned by the European Parliament to facilitate agreement on the proposal by providing insight into possible costs for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and public service providers. While most of the costs related to equal treatment measures will be very low, the assessment shows also that a range of costs for these actors have a potential to be significant.