As of 1 March 2020, foreign employees assigned to the Netherlands on temporary basis must be registered with the Dutch authorities. This obligation is based on the “EU Posted Workers Directive” to ensure that local employment conditions are met. Note that complying with the ruling shall result in penalties, even if the local employment conditions are met.

The above notification applies to all foreign employees e.g. expat employees assigned to the Netherlands , self-employed individuals, foreign employee hired from abroad for temporary employment in the Netherlands.

The notification should be done online and must include information such as personal details of the individual, details about the recipient of the services, address of workplace, duration of the assignment or project and the description of the services to be rendered in the Netherlands.

There are certain exemption to the above rules which applies to certain categories of individuals e.g.:

• Individual performing incidental activities in the Netherlands such as business meetings, urgent maintenance and repairs or attending congresses.
• Individuals working in the transport sector, except for freight transport that includes loading and unloading in the Netherlands.
• Individuals performing urgent maintenance or repairs to tools, machines or equipment without exceeding 12 weeks in a period of 36 weeks.
• Qualified or specialized individuals working on initial assembly or the first installation of machinery, as important and necessary part of the agreement for the delivery of goods, unless work takes more than 8 days.
• Guest lecturers at a Dutch institution for scientific education and certain researchers.

This additional compliance requirement urges companies to review the status of their employees and to fulfill the notification requirements to ensure that they are in compliant with rules to avoid penalties.