1 March 2020: Dutch Posted Worker Notification obligation

Background

In 2014 the European Union (EU) adopted the Posted Workers Enforcement Directive (2014/67/EU) in an effort to improve the protection of posted workers’ rights and to prevent companies from circumventing applicable terms and conditions. One of the ways to support these goals was the introduction of a mandatory notification requirement for temporary assignment/secondment activities (i.e., for temporary postings).

The Netherlands implemented the directive in its 2016 Terms of Employment Posted Workers in the European Union Act. The notification requirement, however, was put on hold, until now.

In practice

As of 1 March 2020 the Dutch government requires all foreign employers and foreign self-employed persons (limited to certain sectors) from other countries within the EEA or Switzerland, to notify of temporary assignment/secondment activities via Meldloket WagwEU. This includes the obligation to report what work will be performed and during what period. In addition, foreign employers will have to report the arrival of any of their posted workers in the Netherlands.

The notification requirement for employers applies to companies that:

• come to the Netherlands temporarily with their own personnel to carry out work
• second employees temporarily from a multinational company to its own branch in the Netherlands
• as a foreign temporary employment agency, make temporary agency workers available in the Netherlands, for a period of time

The notification must be filed online before the start of the work in the Netherlands. Foreign employers will have to report the following:

• the identity of the person submitting the notification
• the details of their company
• the contact person
• the identity of the client in the Netherlands (i.e., the recipient of the services provided by the foreign employer)
• the sector in which the activities will be carried out in the Netherlands
• the address/place where the work will be performed
• the expected duration of the work
• the identity of the person responsible for payment of salary/wage
• the identity of the employees coming to the Netherlands to work
• the presence of an A1 declaration, or other type of evidence that shows where the social security contributions are paid for the employee(s), because of the contribution for the relevant social security scheme

Exemptions

There is no notification requirement for certain types of occasional work over a limited timeframe, such as:

• participation in business meetings
• carrying out urgent maintenance or repairs
• participation in sports competitions
• attendance of academic conferences in the Netherlands

Furthermore, the notification requirement for self-employed persons is limited to specific industries/sectors (e.g., construction, cleaning and healthcare). Lastly, in certain limited cases the notification requirement is reduced for parties that have regular assignments in the Netherlands. Subject to applicable conditions, they only have to report their activities once per year. This arrangement does not apply to temporary employment agencies.

Dutch clients/service recipients must monitor compliance

Parties that engage a foreign company or self-employed person to perform temporary activities (e.g., temporary services) in the Netherlands, will also be required to ensure that the applicable notification requirements are met.

The Dutch Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate can perform an audit and check for compliance with the Terms of Employment Posted Workers in the European Union Act. In case they find that a party has not provided sufficient advance notification or that the provided information is incorrect, both the foreign employer/self-employed person and the client/service recipient in the Netherlands can be fined.

Timely online notification

The online notification tool will be made available here. It should be up and running as of 1 February 2020. This will allow timely notification for activities that start on or after 1 March 2020.