Posting employees to work in the Netherlands - new notification obligation
Jan 31, 2020
As from 1 March 2020, employers that are located in one of the EEA member states or Switzerland and which would like to temporarily post employees to work in the Netherlands will have to notify the Dutch authorities of this cross-border employment upfront.
General principles
In execution of the provision of Posted Workers Directive no. 96/71/EC and its Enforcement Directive no. 2014/67/EU, the majority of the EEA member states had already implemented a posted worker notification in the past (in Belgium: the Limosa notification), and the Netherlands is now following suit.
As from 1 March 2020, every employer established in an EEA member state or Switzerland that sends personnel to the Netherlands to perform services will have to notify the Dutch authorities of the cross-border employment in advance, via an online portal. In addition, self-employed individuals who temporarily go to the Netherlands to perform services will have to notify this as well, provided they perform their services in certain risk-prone industries (a list of which can be found here).
The notification of work must contain, among other data, the identity of the person filing the notification, the name of the company that is posting its employees, that company’s designated contact person, the Dutch client/principal and the expected duration of the services.
Exemptions
In order to limit the administrative burden of the notification obligation, a number of services that are inherently limited in time will, due to their specific nature, be exempt from the new notification obligation in the Netherlands. For example, an exemption will exist for the following services:
initial assembly and installation of supplied goods if the duration does not exceed 8 days;
urgent maintenance or repairs as well as software updates if the duration does not exceed 12 consecutive weeks in a 36-week period;
business meetings if the duration does not exceed 13 consecutive weeks in a 52-week period.
Conclusion
As from 1 March 2020, all employers established in the EEA or Switzerland that post employees to the Netherlands to provide services will have to notify the Dutch authorities of this posting upfront.
Employers that regularly post employees to work in the Netherlands will therefore have to revise their standard processes in this respect and will have to include the new notification obligation. Feel free to reach out to your PwC Legal contact for more guidance.
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