Posted workers in the EU: Mandatory Online Notification

Please be aware that the notification and verification requirement applies to all posted workers, including those who are citizens of the EU. Until 1 September 2020 there is a transitional period: until that date no fines will be imposed for posted EU citizens for whom a notification has not submitted or for whom the notification is incorrect. There is no transitional period for posted non-EU citizens.

A work permit 
is not required. A
notification sufficesCompliance duties sending employer

In the following situations, foreign employers are obliged to ensure compliance with the Dutch Posted Workers act: 

• if the employer brings their own personell to the Netherlands to provide a service.
• if employees are temporarily seconded from a multinational company branch in another EU Member State to a branch in the Netherlands.
• if a foreign temporary employment agency, makes temporary agency workers available in the Netherlands, for a period of time.

Companies are obliged to lay down certain minimum conditions of employment for the personnel that comes to the Netherlands to work temporarily. Moreover, when a collective labor agreement is in force, the hard core Netherlands employment conditions of the agreement are apllicable. This hsrd core primarily concerns:

• maximum working hours and minimum rest hours
• minimum rates of pay
• equal treatment of man and women
• health, security and hygiene at work
• in the case of a foreign temporary employment agency: conditions for making employees available.

The online notification has been introduced to make it easier for the Dutch Labour Inspection (Inspectie SZW) to check whether the employer respects these requirements of the Dutch Posted Workers Act.

Duty to notify

The online notification must be done before the work in the Netherlands starts. Violating this duty will lead to a fine between € 1,500 and € 4,500 per employee.

Duty to keep documents at workplace

The following documents must be kept at the workplace in the Netherlands:

• employment contract
• payslips
• summaries of working hours
• A1 form
• proof of payment of salary

If this duty is violated a fine of € 8,000 in total (not per employee) will be imposed.

Duty to appoint a contact person

This duty concerns the obligation to appoint a contact person in the Netherlands who can be approached by the Dutch Labour Inspection (Inspectie SZW), and who functions as the point of contact. Not providng the details of a contact person will lead to a fine between € 1,500 and € 4,500.

Duty to notify for self-employed persons

Self-employed are only subject to the notification requirement if they work in designated sectors. These designated sectors or subsectors are identified by the following classifications in the Standaard Bedrijfsindeling (SBI): If the self-employed does not notify or not notify correctly a fine of € 750 will be imposed.

Duty to verify for service recipients

The receiving company in the Netherlands must check whether the sending company or self-employed person has notified their arrival and review if they have done so correctly. This must be done within 5 days after the work has started.

The receiving company will receive a notification after the sending company has notified their arrival and will be able to view the notification online. If the notification has not been made by the sending employer or the self-employed or if the notification contains inaccuracies, the receiving company must notify this through the online notification portal and ask the sending company to submit the notification or amend the notification.

If the notification has not been done or has not been done correctly the receiving company must report this to the Dutch inspectorate. The receiving company can be imposed a fine between € 1,500 and € 4,500 per employee for violating this duty.

Exceptions to the notification requirement

Small businesses (between 1-9 employees) and self-employed persons with a duty to notify that are based within a 100-kilometre radius of the Dutch border may notify annually, provided they:

• have carried out at least 3 transnational services in the Netherlands in the past calendar year or have made a valid notification in the previous calendar year; and
• do not work in the construction sector, an employment agency, the temporary employment sector or personnel management; and
• are registered in the trade register, or a similar register in neighbouring countries.

In some cases of incidental work, one does not need to notify. Which activities fall under this category can be found here. 

Do note that these exceptions do not apply if an employee from a third country is posted to the Netherlands.

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