Duty to notify under the Employment Conditions (Posted Workers in the European Union) Act: Dutch companies contracting a foreign business

Checking accuracy of notification

Companies established in the EEA and Switzerland as well as self-employed persons in certain sectors who come to the Netherlands for a temporary assignment must give advance notice of their arrival – and that of any employees – in the Dutch online notification portal. As the Dutch client, you are required to check whether this information has been provided and is correct. You will be informed by email when the foreign employer or foreign self-employed person has provided notification of their forthcoming arrival, and will be able to view the details online by logging in as a client. You should then check the notification. If there are any errors in the notification, you must indicate this in the online notification portal and ask the foreign employer or foreign self-employed person to correct the notification.

If a foreign employer or self-employed person is planning to contract another foreign company to do a job in the Netherlands, it will be engaged in subcontracting. That means that not you but the foreign company or self-employed person will be the client. The subcontractor must provide notification of the arrival of their own employees and the foreign company or self-employed person must check this has been done properly.

Information not provided in the online notification portal?

If, at the start of the work, the foreign company or self-employed person that you have contracted cannot show that they provided notification of their arrival, you must indicate this in the online notification portal and ask them to provide notification of their presence and the work they will be doing.

Providing notification annually where the same foreign service provider is regularly contracted

If you regularly contract the same foreign company,  or the same foreign self-employed person with a duty to notify, to work for you in the Netherlands, a limited duty to notify may apply. This means the required information only needs to be provided annually. This arrangement also applies to international freight transport companies or self-employed persons established abroad that make cabotage trips within the Netherlands. Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between 2 places in the same country by a transport operator from another country. You do not need to check the annual notifications.

Duty to notify waived for guest appearances or short business trips

The duty to notify does not apply to, for example, guest speakers or people on short business trips, or to most self-employed foreign nationals.

Posted workers with a non-EU, non-EEA, non-Swiss nationality

Workers who are nationals of a non-EU, non-EEA country other than Switzerland and are posted to the Netherlands for a temporary assignment also have a duty to notify. Additional requirements may also apply to them. For example, a worker from a third country who is posted to the Netherlands for more than 3 months needs a residence permit, for which their employer should apply. 

Monitoring compliance with the Act

The Dutch Labour Inspectorate checks whether foreign employers, self-employed persons and clients in the Netherlands comply with the Employment Conditions (Posted Workers in the European Union) Act. Along with the Dutch Tax Administration and the Social Insurance Bank, the Inspectorate has direct access to all notifications. The social partners can also request information from the online notification portal. The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) can request data from the online notification portal if a foreign posted worker needs a residence permit. If checks show that you failed to give advance notice of your arrival, both you and your client in the Netherlands can be fined. You can find the amounts of the fines here (only in Dutch).

Rights and responsibilities

Foreign posted workers in the Netherlands are entitled to the main employment conditions provided for in Dutch labour law. In sectors where a generally binding collective agreement applies, posted workers are also entitled to the key employment conditions in that agreement. The employers of these posted workers must therefore comply with the agreement’s provisions.