LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN OTHER COUNTRIES ITALY A debate about the right to disconnect also ensued in Italy in 2016 in the wake of the French example. Two bills were introduced in the Italian Senate to lay down this right, with Bill No 2229 explicitly proposing that workers have the right to disconnect from technological devices and from online platforms without suffering any consequences with regard to their employment status or compensation. On 14 June 2017, the right to disconnect was finally codified in law when Law No. 81/2017 on“Smart Working” was enacted to update the country's outdated legislation on teleworking and to promote and provide a framework for new forms of remote working and facilitate workers' ability to shape their work-life balance ¹⁷. In Italy,“smart work” is defined as work with no precise constraints in terms of working hours or place of work. Work can thus be done partly from home or from another place of work as long as it is suitable for performing the job. The employer and employee must agree in writing about the terms and conditions of“smart working”, and this agreement must include provisions about the employee's rest periods as well as the technical and organisational measures necessary to ensure the employee's right to disconnect ¹⁸. The main difference between the Italian law and those of France and Spain is that in Italy the right to disconnect is limited to workers performing“smart work” and does not apply generally to the broader workforce.“Smart work” has increased since the passing of the law, however: Whereas an estimated 250,000 Italian workers worked flexibly in October 2016 ¹⁹, as of October 2019 more than 570,000 workers benefited from this form of working ²⁰. The Italian government has also made a number of references to”smart working” in decrees issued in 2020 in connection with the COVID-19 crisis to broadly enable and promote remote working during the pandemic ²¹. BELGIUM The issue of disconnection in Belgium is covered in a law of 26 March 2018, called the“Act regarding the strengthening of economic growth and social cohesion”, which was introduced as part of a series of initiatives to reform Belgian labour law ²². The act made it mandatory for employers with more than 50 employees to discuss the issue of disconnection and the use of digital tools with the workplace health and safety committee. The stated purpose of these provisions was to ensure respect for employees' periods of rest, holidays, and leave, and their balance between work and private life. Employees in Belgium thus have a right to discuss issues of disconnection with their employers, but they do not have a right to disconnect in the strict sense of the term. The employer can adopt disconnection policies after consulting with the committee, but is not required to do so. Nor does the law prescribe how often the employer should meet with the committee, but does note that the employer should do so regularly and whenever there are significant changes in the company, and whenever the committee asks for it. In the event there is no health and safety committee in place, the trade union delegation can assume this role instead. CHILE Chile became the first country outside Europe to legislate a right to disconnect when on 26 March 2020 it adopted Law 21.220 to amend the labour code with a new chapter on remote working and teleworking ²³. The timing of the law coincided with the COVID-19 crisis in the country and efforts to limit the spread of the virus, although draft legislation on the right to disconnect had already been proposed at the end of 2018 and approved by the lower house of Congress in April 2019. While the draft legislation sought to extend the right to disconnect broadly to workers in both the public and the private sector to safeguard their periods of rest, leave, and holidays, as well as their personal and family privacy, Law 21.220 only deals with this right in the context of remote work – like the Italian law on smart working. The law stipulates that an employer and an employee can make an agreement setting out flexible work arrangements, where employees can perform their work in part or completely from a different location than the company's offices. They can also agree on flexible working hours for the employee, while taking into account general stipulations on working hours in the labour code, including a minimum 12 hours of consecutive rest between periods of work. The time of disconnection is also to be agreed upon in this context. 17 Law No. 81 of 22 May 2017. https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/ 2017/06/13/17G00096/sg 18 Ibid., art. 19. 19 https://www.corporatelivewire.com/top-story.html?id=the-new­regulation-on-smart-working-in-italy 20 https://www.warwicklegal.com/news/326/italy-smart-working-agile­performing-and-increasing 21 Most notably decree 34/2020. It should be noted, however, that the form of remote work promoted by the government did not have the same characteristics of true”smart working”, which entails a large degree of flexibility on the part of the employee as to the place and hours to work. 22 Loi du 26 mars 2018 relative au renforcement de la croissance économique et de la cohésion sociale. https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/ change_lg.pl?language=fr&la=F&table_name=loi&cn=2018032601 23 Ley 21.220 Modifica el código del trabajo en materia de trabajo a distancia, 26.3.2020. https://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=1143741 24 https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/233626/20200814 ARGENTINA Following in the footsteps of Chile, but building upon years of efforts and proposals to regulate remote working in the country, the Argentine Senate adopted law 27.555 on telework on 30 July 2020 ²⁴. Article 5 of the new law introduces a right to disconnect, noting that remote workers have a right to disconnect from ICT­tools outside of their working day and during holidays. The Argentine law is the first law in the world to contain specific language to protect workers against sanctions if they exercise their right to disconnect. It further stipulates that the employer cannot communicate with or ask their employees to perform tasks outside of normal working hours. 7