Involvement of Social Partners in Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, the social partners are represented by five professional chambers, representing both the employer’s and the employee’s sides. The chambers are public institutions financed by the mandatory membership fees for companies and professional persons from the sectors they represent as well as by the services and the continuous training courses they provide.

The employers are organised in three professional chambers:

• The Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) competent for the industrial and financial sector;
• The Chamber of Trades and Skilled Crafts (Chambre des Métiers);
• The Chamber of Agriculture (Chambre d’Agriculture).

The employees are represented by two professional chambers:

• The Chamber of Employees (Chambre des Salariés);
• The Chamber of Clerks and Civil Servants (Chambre des fonctionnaires et employés publics).

The decisions taken within the frame of the partnership between the State and the professional chambers, fixed by the VET law of 2008, cover the following areas:

• Identification of the qualification and training needs and definition of the IVET and CVET offer;
• Definition and provision of career advice and information offers regarding VET;
• Organisation of IVET and CVET in technical secondary schools, training companies, public CVET centres, the different chambers, etc.;
• Elaboration and revision of the curricula frameworks and the assessment criteria for the VET training programmes;
• Certification of IVET and CVET programmes and organisation of a recognition procedure for formally, informally, and non-formally acquired competences;
• Assessment of the quality of the VET-system.

The professional chambers also play an important role in the administration of the apprenticeship system: they award training authorisations to companies and administrate the apprenticeship contracts, i.e. they register and archive them and take care of changes, cancellations, or prolongations. They also contribute to the promotion and marketing of the VET system by organising different measures, including information campaigns, web portals and vocational guidance services.