New provisions to the Danish Act on Posting of Workers

The object of the new provisions is to support that the posting provisions are not abused, and that the Danish authorities by using the Register of Foreign Service Providers (in Danish: "RUT-registeret") are able to identify and clarify that the foreign service providers comply with the terms for posting of employees.

The new provisions entail an amendment to the provisions already in force in the Danish Act on Posting of Workers, particularly with an amendment of section 4(a) to 4(e) of the present section 4. Furthermore, a new section 4(3) is included with the following wording:

"Sub-section 3. Furthermore, it is a stipulation for a posting being governed by sub-section 1 that the relevant posting enterprise is actually established in the country of establishment and therefore has other significant activities in the country of establishment than only internal management or administrative activities".

Thus, the new provisions are to ensure that the Danish Working Environment Authority has the possibility of finding the so-called "post-box companies" which post employees to Denmark without having activities in their home country and thereby abuse the Danish posting rules.

This is done by the Danish Working Environment Authority to ensure that the relevant foreign companies actually are established in the country of establishment. As an example, they can collect information from the country of establishment's authorities. Furthermore, the provisions may be used by a union in connection with a matter pertaining to labour legislation about interpretation or non-compliance of a collective agreement as the union can request the Danish Working Environment Authority to look further into the matters.

Under section 4(e), the Minister for Employment further stipulates the rules for the Working Environment Authority's investigation, access to collect information and access to rectify an enterprise's registration in the Register of Foreign Service Providers.

Finally, the Ministry of Employment has just launched a new website to help foreign enterprises in connection with posting of their employees. Please visit the new website at https://workplacedenmark.dk/en.

The website informs visitors about rules for work and residence permits, which laws the posted employees are governed by – for instance the Danish Act on Posting of Workers if they work for a foreign employer – and that foreign enterprises in Denmark must register in the Register of Foreign Service Providers (RUT) so that the Danish authorities can supervise them. 

Bird & Bird's comments

Bird & Bird advises many foreign companies both in connection with formation of companies in Denmark but also in connection with employees posted to work in Denmark, including applications for work and residence permits (if non-EU citizens) and guidance on registration in the Register of Foreign Service Providers etc.