There is still no clear resolution in sight for the electronic declaration of posted workers file, the voluntary project for a single digital declaration to facilitate the notification procedures for postings between national administrations (see EUROPE 13726/16).
Following the cancellation by the Danish Presidency of the EU Council of a further negotiation with the European Parliament (trilogue) scheduled for 8 December, the Cyprus Presidency may not be able to resume technical work between the co-legislators before April, according to several sources.
The Cyprus Presidency is reportedly planning to consult the various Member States in the near future on this file, which was the subject of a mandate from the EU Council in May 2025, but the chances of breaking the deadlock still appeared slim now at the end of January.
What is the issue? The Cyprus Presidency that has not made this a priority and is said to have decided not to make any progress on the issue until at least late February.
Furthermore, the discussions were blocked at the end of last year by a majority of Member States opposed to the direction taken during the first trilogues and by another majority still not very enthusiastic about the EU Council’s mandate itself (see EUROPE 13646/14). In late November, the Danish Presidency, which had made this a key issue, was still hoping to achieve an agreement.
The regulation aims to reduce the administrative burden on companies posting workers by means of a single digital declaration portal.
The Council’s mandate had endorsed a single declaration with five types of standard information and additions had been made to the data required for the common form for posting, such as references to the legal representatives of posted workers, a description of the service and the work carried out, working conditions, the existence of collective accommodation for groups of posted workers or references to legal representatives for double postings.
However, before that, a blocking minority had brought together countries including France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and the Netherlands, anxious to avoid breaking any social rules.
Some of these countries, including France and Italy, were only able to give the go-ahead subject to a declaration stating their vigilance with regard to this ‘social’ information.
During the trilogues, the difficulties arose precisely from the differences of opinion on the type and detail of information required for the posting declaration, with the subject of working conditions (wages, working hours, accommodation, etc.) remaining the most challenging.
The European Parliament, for its part, had insisted on the need for all Member States to participate in this system to ensure the full value of this e-declaration (see EUROPE 13726/16).
In a publication dated 22 January, the employers’ organisation BusinessEurope reiterated its support for this e-declaration proposal. “This tool will provide a European system for notifying the posting of workers and a harmonised list of the information required”.
883/2004. On this same subject of notifications, BusinessEurope would also like to see finalisation of the current revision of Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, which should provide for all business trips and short and medium-term assignments to be completely exempt from the posting notification requirement (form A1), except for the construction sector.
However, according to our information, here too, no negotiations or specific work have been initiated by the Cyprus Presidency to try to reach an agreement on this ‘883’ file, saved in extremis by the Commission last October (see EUROPE 13747/26). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)