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Policy & Compliance


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Registration obligation for drivers posted to the Netherlands


The new Dutch policy goes beyond recent regulatory requirements for the transport sector as detailed in the Mobility Package


BIFA has been advised by European partner organisations that companies established outside of the Netherlands, which temporarily post employees to the Netherlands, are obliged to report each posting from 1 March 2020 to the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. The ministry has created a special website –


www.postedworkers.nl – in Dutch, English and German to allow registration. Foreign transport companies must register


their drivers via an electronic register if their drivers are going to carry out transport to, or from, the Netherlands or conduct cabotage on its territory. Drivers transiting Holland en-route to/from another country to deliver/collect freight are exempted from the obligation to report. The notification obligation also applies to independent self-employed drivers not


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May 2020


based in the Netherlands. We have been advised of the following


problems in the Netherlands with the registration process: • As there have been notification problems in appointing a contact person in the Netherlands, the Dutch ministry has indicated that it is working on a provisional solution: a contact person must still be appointed, but an address in the Netherlands does not need to be entered;


• The ministry has also emphasised that companies do not need to get worried if drivers are not registered from 1 March, since there is an official transition period until 1 September 2020. During this period, no fines will be imposed, which is confirmed in the Official Journal, article 6. In view of the issues


detailed in the first bullet point, this seems a practical approach.


• Finally, the ministry has noted that it hopes to provide more information about the status for non-EU countries, which have a bilateral agreement with the Netherlands, in which no reference is made to applying minimum wages when loading and unloading in the Netherlands.


BIFA view BIFA has commented to its now former EU partners that these requirements go beyond recent regulatory requirements for the transport sector as detailed in the Mobility Package. It is not uncommon for individual EU member


states to exceed regulatory requirement – we saw similar requirements in Germany a few years ago when drivers were required to carry additional paperwork such as wage slips to prove that minimum wage regulations were being complied with. This led the Commission commencing infraction proceedings against the German authorities. It will be interesting to see whether sometime in the future similar action is taken against the Dutch.


In light of current restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic BIFA has suspended all regional activity for the foreseeable future. Please refer to the BIFA website for further updates.


the appropriate Regional Consultant to BIFA. All BIFA Members are entitled and


encouraged to attend their regional meetings


however pre-booking with the named contact is essential. Full contact details are shown on page 3 of this issue.


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