WagwEU and Bouwpas

Content

• What is the WagwEU?
• What has changed?
• Watch the Webinar (Dutch)
• My question is not answered
• The WagwEU Helper in Bouwpas

What is the WagwEU

💡 WagwEU is the abbreviation in Dutch for the Employment Conditions Posted Workers in the European Union Act (Wet arbeidsvoorwaarden gedetacheerde werknemers in de EU). 

The WagwEU is in force since 18 June 2016. With this law, the government wants that the most important working conditions in the Netherlands also apply to workers posted to the Netherlands from other countries. Specifically, this includes:

• the minimum salary;
• adequate rest periods;
• safe working conditions;
• equal treatment of men and women; and
• a minimum number of holidays.

What has changed?

Since 1 March 2020, there is a notification requirement for foreign contractors (from the EEA and Switzerland) coming to perform work in the Netherlands.

For example:

• Contractor A
  • Subcontractor B
    • Subcontractor C

If subcontractor B is a German company, that company must register its workers seconded to A in the notification centre at www.postedworkers.nl. Main contractor A must then check and approve the notification.

If subcontractor C is a Portuguese company, that company must register its posted workers in the notification centre at www.postedworkers.nl. Subcontractor B must then check and approve the notification.

Note that there is no sequential liability for the WagwEU. Posted workers of subcontractor C are therefore not checked by the main contractor A in the notification centre. For the sake of integrity, other legislation continues to apply, therefore sequential liability may still apply! Registering in Bouwpas ensures that you are fully covered for other applicable legislation.

Notification requirement expires

With this new reporting obligation in the WagwEU, another obligation has been dropped, namely the notification requirement. It has therefore also been removed from the 'Foreign worker' assessment task. 

Annual report not applicable

In the information from the Netherlands Labour Inspectorate (formerly Inspectorate SZW) an annual report is mentioned. However, it always states that the construction sector is excluded. Therefore the annual report cannot be used.

What about self-employed workers

In the construction sector, the reporting obligation also applies to self-employed workers. Self-employed workers must therefore also report.

Foreigners

The Foreign Nationals Employment Act still applies. Thus, for staff with a nationality outside the EEA, a copy of their passport must still be stored.

Do I really need eHerkenning for the notification centre?

This is the most secure and reliable option. However, there is also the possibility to create a separate account in the notification centre, also as a client. Bouwpas cannot explain the procedure to you, the notification centre provides this information. 

Watch the Webinar (Dutch)

Bouwpas, in cooperation with Pellicaan Firm and Mazars Firm, has organised a webinar explaining the WagwEU in detail. We have published the webinar online. Watch the Webinar here (Dutch)

My question is not answered

The SZW Ministry (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) has posted a clear and comprehensive FAQ on its website https://english.postedworkers.nl/

Take a look at the answers: https://english.postedworkers.nl/faq

Still can't find an answer? Then send an e-mail to our Helpdesk. 

The WagwEU Helper in Bouwpas

Registering reports in Bouwpas is not sufficient to comply with this law because a separate notification centre has been created for the WagwEU. However, Bouwpas does help in the management of the notifications' status and ensures that subcontractors enter the correct data in the Notification Centre. 

Configuring the WagwEU Helper

The operating company administrator can choose whether to enable the WagwEU Helper in the settings of the main contractor and the project. The default setting is off. 

In the settings, you will find a form with a number of fields that need to be filled in, such as project location, contact details and so on. We fill in this data automatically based on what we already know about your project.

For the subcontractor

If you have set up and enabled the WagwEU Helper, the following applies. Foreign subcontractors logging into their vault, will see a bar notifying that they need to report their employees for your project on postedworkers.nl. When they open the notification, they are shown exactly which information is required to fill in the notification box. These are the details entered by the operating company manager in the settings (above). In this way, we prevent to the greatest extent that the subcontractor enters wrong information, so that you, the main contractor, do not have to reject that report because of an entry error.

The assessment

Although, as a main contractor, you will approve and disapprove your subcontractor's assessments in the Notification Centre, we have also made this possible in Bouwpas. The added value of this is that by rejecting an assessment, you can ensure that a subcontractor cannot be admitted to the construction site, just as with our other assessments. This also gives you control over who is registered on your construction site for the WagwEU.

Bouwpas asks for a notification number in the Company Data tab to every subcontractor who needs to report in the postedworkers.nl notification centre. That notification number is issued to the subcontractor in the postedworkers.nl notification centre. The subcontractor fills it in and thus you have a conclusive record of which subcontractor belongs to which report in postedworkers.nl.

If you approve the assessment, this subcontractor's staff can be registered, and get to work!

Attention!

If the workers are employed by a foreign legal entity, notification should be made to posted workers. A registration in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce does not make the service provider spontaneously established in the Netherlands. A foreign service provider can also register in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, but uses the foreign address. This does not affect the obligations arising from the WagwEU.

Moreover, the payment of social contributions and payroll taxes in the Netherlands has nothing to do with the obligations arising from the WagwEU.