Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure DK-2020-13/1600 – measures in Denmark
Country | Denmark , applies nationwide |
Time period | Open ended, started on 23 March 2020 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Other initiatives or policies |
Category |
Reorientation of business activities
– Change of production/Innovation |
Author | Carsten Jørgensen (FAOS, University of Copenhagen), Anders Randrup (Oxford Research) |
Measure added | 16 December 2020 (updated 26 January 2021) |
On 12 March 2020, the Danish Prime Minister, Mrs. Mette Frederiksen announced that due to the rapid spread of the corona virus, all economic life and educational functions would close down for a period of two weeks, which in the end were prolonged several times. Shortly after, the government and the social partners concluded a tripartite agreement on a comprehensive wage compensation scheme for furloughed employees that would otherwise have lost their jobs. In some cases, companies succeeded in reorganizing their production into producing personal protective equipment such as hand disinfectant and face shields. In order to use and secure this potential the state and the Confederation of Danish Industry established a cooperation with the aim to find and encourage companies to change their production, if possible, to items that would benefit a severely pressed health care sector and hospital personnel.
After the lockdown of economic and educational activities on 12 March 2020 due to the rapid spread of corona virus, the Danish health sector, and in particular the hospitals, were in acute need of protective equipment for the personnel. Therefore, in order to be able to cope with the pressure at the hospitals, the Danish Medicines Agency (Lægemiddelstyrelsen) encouraged the industrial companies in Denmark to switch over parts of the Danish industrial production to the much-needed personal protective equipment. This was in particular gloves, lab coats, isolation clothes, face shields, surgical masks, hand disinfectant and important equipment for COVID-19 tests.
Thus, on 23 March 2020 the Danish Medicines Agency launched a campaign, Denmark helps Denmark, in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry and the influential employer and business interest associations, Confederation of Danish Industry, DI, and the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Dansk Erhverv, with the aim to coordinate the efforts of producing personal protective equipment in Danish industrial companies. On 27 March, the medicines agency announced that they had received more than 1,000 applications. DI will be the coordinator of the cooperation that also include the municipalities and regions. DI will systematise the companies and make sure to bring them in contact with the right authority, in order to ensure a correct assessment of the potential in the production reorganisation.
When the applications to the campaign ‘Denmark helps Denmark’ reached 2,000, the Danish Medicines Agency announced that the municipalities and regions had taken over the coordination of the procurements and future applications. The agency itself would therefore not deal with further applications. No other figures on the further use of the measure are available.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers |
SMEs
|
Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
Company / Companies
|
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement | Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative |
Form | Not applicable | Direct consultation outside a formal body |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The Danish Medicines Agency contacted the employer organisations DI and Dansk Erhverv with the proposal to switch parts of the industrial production to produce protective equipment. To this end, the employer organisations should contact their companies. DI was chosen as coordinator of the efforts.
The social partners' views on / and reaction to the measure were positive and supportive.
This case is sector-specific (only private sector)
Economic area | Sector (NACE level 2) |
---|---|
C - Manufacturing | C11 Manufacture of beverages |
C13 Manufacture of textiles | |
C14 Manufacture of wearing apparel | |
C17 Manufacture of paper and paper products | |
C20 Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products | |
C21 Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations | |
C22 Manufacture of rubber and plastic products |
This case is not occupation-specific.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), The state and Danish industry establish cooperation on companies' reorganisation to production of protective equipment, measure DK-2020-13/1600 (measures in Denmark), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/DK-2020-13_1600.html
Share
30 January 2023
Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.
Article12 September 2022
Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Article12 September 2022
This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.
Article5 July 2022
This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.
ArticleDisclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.