On Wednesday 13 November, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation introducing a multilingual interface that will enable companies to electronically declare the workers they post to the European Union (see EUROPE 13522/19).
Use of this multilingual interface will remain voluntary for Member States. An initial group of nine countries - including Germany, the Czech Republic and Lithuania - could test this new interface, which will be connected to the Internal Market Information System (IMI).
The standard form to be compiled by companies posting their workers will provide around thirty relevant details relating to the service provider, the posted worker, the posting assignment, the contact person for the competent authorities and the service recipient.
Although it initially wanted a more ambitious system, the European Commission believes that this initiative will reduce the costs and time involved in completing administrative procedures. The Commission is convinced that, thanks to the dematerialisation and rationalisation of procedures, companies will be in a better position to comply with the rules and, as a result, posted workers will be better protected.
In a press release, Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope, welcomed this electronic declaration proposal as “an example of how the EU can reduce regulatory burdens for companies without hampering workers’ rights”. He advocated the creation of an “EU helpdesk under the European Labour Authority (ELA) to provide on-demand, practical and individualised help and guidance to employers, particularly regarding the posting of workers”. In the long term, he added, the single market “would benefit from having only one single notification portal with unified information and documentation obligations”.
See the legislative proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/ea4 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)