POSTED WORKERS FROM AND TO BELGIUM

FACTS AND FIGURES

FREDERIC DE WISPELAERE, LYNN DE SMEDT, MATHILDE MUNOZ, DIRK GILLIS & JOZEF PACOLET

http://www.hummingbird-H2020.eu
 Abstract
In 2021, in the framework of the freedom to provide services (Article 56 TFEU), approximately 255,000 persons (workers + self-
employed) were reported in LIMOSA. Every day, there were on average 136,500 posted persons active in Belgium. The group
of incoming posted workers amounted to approximately 2.8% of the total group of workers employed in Belgium. Posted
workers even represent about one-fifth of total employment in the Belgian construction sector.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on free movement in 2020, the number of persons sent to Belgium
decreased by approximately 6% compared to 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic only had a temporary effect on the number of
persons posted to Belgium.
In 2021, about one out of four persons posted to Belgium were third-country nationals. The posted TCNs mainly concerned
Ukrainians (38% of the posted TCNs), Belarusians (17% of the posted TCNs), Brazilians (8% of the posted TCNs) and Bosnians
and Herzegovinians (4% of the posted TCNs). The relative importance of the number of Ukrainians and Belarusians in the total
number of posted workers increased within a very short period. Both nationalities hardly appeared in the LIMOSA statistics
before 2018. In 2021, Ukrainian posted workers represented 10% and Belarusian posted workers 5% of the total number of
posted workers in Belgium. Six main ‘routes’ of TCNs posted to Belgium can be identified. By far the most important route is
that of Ukrainians who are posted to Belgium from Poland.
It is estimated that the gross wages for the persons posted to Belgium amounted to around € 2 billion in 2020. If they had not
been posted but had been employed in their sending Member State, their wages would have been approximately € 700 million
lower. Consequently, in ‘theory’ their wages have increased by about 50%. The Belgian state does not receive a considerable
amount of labour tax revenues because social security contributions for incoming posted workers have to be paid in the sending
Member State and not in Belgium. It is estimated that this amounts to more than € 750 million, which is however ‘only’ about
1% of the annual sum of labour tax revenues received by the Belgian State from social security contributions.
Between 2017 and 2020, 23% of the Portable Documents A1 issued to workers posted to another Member State were granted
retroactively.
About 6% of the inspectors employed within the Belgian labour inspectorates focus on the fight against cross-border social
fraud, and thus on the compliance with the posting rules. Only 4% of the inspections carried out by the Belgian labour
inspectorates relate to the cross-border dimension of social fraud. In 2021, an infringement was found in two out of three
inspections relating to the compliance with the posting rules.

March 2022

© 2022 - POSTING.STAT, Enhancing the collection and analysis of national data on intra-EU posting –
project number VS/2020/0499

General contact: frederic.dewispelaere@kuleuven.be

p.a. POSTING.STAT
HIVA - Research Institute for Work and Society
Parkstraat 47 box 5300, 3000 LEUVEN, Belgium

For more information frederic.dewispelaere@kuleuven.be

Please refer to this publication as follows:

De Wispelaere, F., De Smedt, L., Muñoz, M., Gillis, D. & Pacolet, J. (2022), Posted workers from and to
Belgium. Facts and figures, Leuven: POSTING.STAT project VS/2020/0499.

Information may be quoted provided the source is stated accurately and clearly.
This publication is part of the POSTING.STAT project. This project has received funding by the European
Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, within the EU Programme for Employment and
Social Innovation (EaSI) under the Grant Agreement No°VS/2020/0499.
The information and views set out in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any
person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information
contained therein.
Contents

List of tables 4

List of figures 5

Abbreviations 6

Executive summary 7

Samenvatting 12

1. Introduction 18
1.1 Research questions 18
1.2 Research methodology 19
1.2.1 Administrative micro-data 19
1.2.2 Data quality and limitations 20

2. Scale, characteristics and impact of intra-EU posting 25

2.1 To Belgium 25
2.1.1 Measuring the flow of persons posted to Belgium 25
2.1.2 Characteristics of persons posted to Belgium 28
2.2 From Belgium to other EU Member States 42
2.2.1 Measuring the flow of posted workers from Belgium 42
2.2.2 Characteristics of posted workers from Belgium 44
2.2.3 Retroactive request for a Portable Document A1 46
2.3 Measuring the importance of intra-EU posting in total employment in Belgium 47
2.3.1 For the Belgian economy 47
2.3.2 For the Belgian construction sector 48

3. Scale and characteristics of infringements related to intra-EU posting 49

3.1 The Social Information and Investigation Service 51
3.2 The Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws 54
3.3 The inspection department of the National Social Security Office 54
3.4 The Flemish Social Inspection 55
3.5 The Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security: the OSIRIS-project 55

4. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intra-EU posting 58

4.1 To Belgium 58
4.2 From Belgium 59

5. The economic impact of the amended Posting of Workers Directive 61

5.1 Impact on access to information 61
5.1.1 Awareness/knowledge gap may lead to a compliance gap 62
5.1.2 The single official national website 62
5.2 Impact of the new provisions related to long-term postings 64
5.2.1 Monitoring 64
5.2.2 Motivated notifications 65

6. References 66

3
List of tables

Table 1. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, 2021 26

Table 2. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by sending country, 2019-2021 28
Table 3. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by nationality and status, 2021 30
Table 4. Main mobility routes for posted TCNs to Belgium, 2021 31
Table 5. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, main sectors, by nationality, 2021 33
Table 6. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, Belgian construction, by nationality, 2021 33
Table 7. Import of services in the Belgian construction sector, 2011-2019 37
Table 8. Average period reported in LIMOSA - in days, 2016-2021 38
Table 9. Average duration of the posting period reported in LIMOSA, 2020 38
Table 10. Average duration of the posting period reported in LIMOSA, Belgian construction sector, 2021 39
Table 11. Profile of Belgian clients with posted workers compared to the profile of non-users, 2019 39
Table 12. Estimated increase of the gross wages for persons posted to Belgium, in €, 2020 42
Table 13. Total number of Portable A1 documents issued by the Belgian authorities, 2020 43
Table 14. Different concepts to measure the number of outgoing posted workers, 2020 43
Table 15. Number of PDs A1 issued according to Article 12 BR for activities in the live performance sector, by
duration, Belgium, 2019 45
Table 16. Number and percentage of PDs A1 granted retroactively on the basis of Art. 12 BR, 2017-2020 46
Table 17. Share of posted workers in total employment in Belgium, 2019-2021, by month 47
Table 18. Share of incoming posted persons in total employment in the Belgian construction sector, 2020,
quarterly data 48
Table 19. The scale of infringements related to (cross-border) social fraud in Belgium, 2019-2020 52
Table 20. Cross-border social fraud within the Belgian construction sector, 2019-2020 52
Table 21. Number of infringements to the LIMOSA declaration, 2019-2021 53
Table 22. Amount claimed/regulated in case of ‘social dumping’, in €, 2019-2021 54
Table 23. Posting information exchanges through IMI by Belgium as sending and receiving Member State, 2018 54
Table 24. Evolution of persons with a PD A1 issued by Belgium, 2020 vs 2019 59
Table 25. Share of Belgian organisations active in the live performance sector and working across the EU aware of
the amendment of the Posting of Workers Directive, by type of organisation, in % 62
Table 26. Consultation of information on the single national website, 1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021 63
Table 27. Consultation of information for specific joint committees, 1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021 64
Table 28. Number of motivated notifications received, total received from implementation (date) until June 2021 65

4
List of figures

Figure 1. Overview of the limitations of the LIMOSA and WABRO databases 24

Figure 2. Evolution of the number of persons reported in LIMOSA, 2015 - 2021 26
Figure 3. Share in number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by region of the sending country, 2020 vs 2021 29
Figure 4. Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by sending country and status, 2021 29
Figure 5. Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by nationality, by region, 2021 vs 2020 31
Figure 6. Main sending countries of posted TCNs reported in LIMOSA, 2021 32
Figure 7. Main nationalities of persons posted from Member States with a high number of TCNs, 2021 32
Figure 8. Share of workers and self-employed reported in LIMOSA 34
Figure 9. Main sectors of activity of workers posted to Belgium, share in total, 2019 35
Figure 10. Average number of posting undertakings per Belgian client, 2010 - 2019 40
Figure 11. Share of local blue-collar workers in total employment (incl. posted workers) at Belgian clients, 2008-
2019 40
Figure 12. Posting of workers from MS X to Belgium. By how much should the gross wage be multiplied? (estimate),
2020 41
Figure 13. Main receiving countries of posted workers from Belgium, 2020 44
Figure 14. Main sectors of activity of posted workers from Belgium, 2019 45
Figure 15. Dialogue and conciliation procedure: ‘A1 procedure’ 56
Figure 16. Number of cases processed via the OSIRIS platform between June 2015 and 1 January 2021, top 5
Member States involved 56
Figure 17. Number of PDs A1 withdrawn applicable to activities in Belgium, 2015 - 2020 57
Figure 18. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA during the reference month, 2019-2021 59
Figure 19. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA during the reference month, evolution 2020 vs 2019 59

5
Abbreviations

BoP: Balance of Payments

BR: Basic Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems
CBSS: the Crossroads Bank for Social Security
COVRON: Control of foreign enterprises active on Belgian territory
CTIF-CFI: Financial Intelligence Processing Unit
EC: European Commission
ECJ: European Court of Justice
ELA: European Labour Authority
EU: European Union
EU-13: Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Estonia (EE), Croatia (HR), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV),
Lithuania (LT), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), and Slovakia (SK).
EU-14: Belgium (BE), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR),
Italy (IT), Luxembourg (LU), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Portugal (PT), Finland (FI), and Sweden
(SE).
GATS: General Agreement on Trade in Services
IMI: Internal Market Information System
IR: Implementation Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009
LIMOSA: Cross-Country Information System for Migration Research at the Social Administration
NISSE: National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed
NSSO: National Social Security Office
OSH: Occupational Safety and Health
PD A1: Portable Document A1
SIOD/SIRS: Social Information and Investigation Service
TCN: Third-country national
TFEU: Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
UNECE: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
WABRO: Working Abroad

6
Executive summary

Belgium is one of the main host Member States of posted workers1 in the EU. This situation, in which an
employer temporarily sends its employees to another country to work there for a certain period of time,2
has become an important form of employment in several Belgian (labour-intensive and price sensitive)
sectors of activity, not least in the construction sector.
Statistical evidence provided at EU level reveals only a fraction of the administrative data available in
Belgium on the posting of workers. This leaves several research questions as well as country-specific
phenomena unanswered. This country report, prepared within the framework of the POSTING.STAT
project,3 aims to provide additional evidence on 1) the scale, characteristics and impact of intra-EU posting
from and to Belgium; 2) the scale and characteristics of infringements related to intra-EU posting from and
to Belgium; 3) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intra-EU posting from and to Belgium; and finally
4) the economic impact of the amended Posting of Workers Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending
Directive 96/71/EC)4.
The availability of data on intra-EU posting and the completeness of it largely depends on the extent to
which companies are obliged to declare their posting activities, both in the sending Member State and in
the receiving Member State. At Belgian level, data on the number of ‘reported’ incoming posted persons to
Belgium are collected via the LIMOSA declaration.5 For outgoing postings, the WABRO database has been
analysed. This database contains information about the Portable Documents A1 (PD A1) issued by Belgium.
This certificate proves that the social security legislation of the issuing Member State applies and confirms
that the person concerned has no obligations to pay social security contributions in another Member State.
It should be noted that both data sources have their limitations to map the posting of workers from and to
Belgium. The results should therefore be read as an indication of the scale and the characteristics of intra-
EU posting from and to Belgium. In order to obtain a view on the characteristics and the scale of
infringements related to intra-EU posting reference is made to data collected and reported by the Belgian
Social Information and Investigation Service (SIOD/SIRS). These data provide an overview of the outcome
of the inspections carried out by the main competent labour inspectorates.6 The use of inspection data has
several limitations of which the reader should be aware. Inspection data probably bias the real relationship
between posting and cross-border social fraud. After all, inspections will mostly take place on the basis of a
risk assessment, mainly focused on specific ‘risk sectors’ (e.g., in the construction sector). Such inspections
will yield higher infringement rates and may therefore give a distorted view of the actual number of
infringements. These inspection data are supplemented with figures from the Belgian Federal Public Service
Social Security on the dialogue and conciliation procedure concerning the validity of the PD A1. Finally,
based on interviews with several stakeholders as well as desk research, a preliminary economic assessment
has been made on the possible impact of the recently amended Posting of Workers Directive.

1 For an overview of the legal basis see https://employment.belgium.be/en/legal-basis-posting?back_to_theme=3536

2 From a social law perspective, by applying Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, self-employed persons can post themselves to another
Member State. Though, self-employed persons do not fall within the scope of the Posting of Workers Directive.
3 POSTING.STAT brings together a consortium of universities and research centres from 10 different Member States, supported by several
European social partner organisations and public authorities. HIVA – KU Leuven is responsible for the project management and the overall
coordination of the project activities. The geographical scope of the project covers the six main ‘sending’ Member States (Germany, Poland,
Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Luxembourg) and the six main ‘receiving’ Member States (Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg) of posted workers. Link to the publications of the POSTING.STAT project.
4 The Act of 12 June 2020 relating to diverse matters of posting of workers to Belgium implements Directive 2018/957 amending
Directive 96/71/EC into Belgian legislation. The Act entered into force on 30 July 2020 and mainly amends the Act of 5 March 2002 on working,
wage, and employment conditions in the event of the posting of workers in Belgium and compliance therewith, and the Act of 24 July 1987
on temporary work, temporary agency work, and the posting of workers for the benefit of users.
5 www.limosa.be
6 Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law, the inspection department of the National Social Security Office (NSSO) and the inspection
department of the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE).

7
A labour and import leakage due to the high number of persons posted to the Belgian
construction sector
In 2021, approximately 255,000 posted persons (workers and self-employed persons) were reported in
LIMOSA, of which some 225,000 posted workers and 30,000 posted self-employed persons. Every day,
there were on average 136,500 posted persons active in Belgium. The group of incoming posted workers
amounted to approximately 2.8% of the total group of workers employed in Belgium.
Imported services are sometimes referred to as a source of ‘leakage’ because they can have the effect of
transferring income (wages and profits) earned in one country to another country. In case of intra-EU
posting, the purchase of services from posting undertakings results in an outflow of income and public
revenues. This risk occurs for instance in the Belgian construction sector. After all, posted workers represent
about one fifth of total employment in the Belgian construction sector. In addition, the amount of imported
services in the construction sector equals some € 1.5 billion per year. A large share of investments in the
recovery and resilience plan that Belgium submitted to the European Commission in the framework of the
‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’7 is dedicated to the construction and renovation of buildings and
dwellings. The positive impact of the plan on the number of additional jobs would come from the
construction sector in particular. However, given the large presence of foreign companies and workers by
the posting of workers, the Belgian recovery plan will not only benefit the Belgian economy, but also foreign
employment and consumption.

A temporary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of persons posted from and to
Belgium
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on free movement in 2020, the number of posted
persons to Belgium decreased by approximately 6% compared to 2019. Nonetheless, the number of posted
persons in 2020 was still higher than before 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic only had a temporary effect
on the number of posted persons to Belgium. A sharp decline of the number of posted persons occurred
particularly in April and May 2020 (-12% compared to the same period in 2019). The level of posted persons
was picking up relatively quickly in the following months. Moreover, the number of persons reported in
2021 was 5.5% higher than in 2020. Not only the number of incoming postings but also the number of
outgoings postings suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of outgoing posted workers
decreased in 2020 by 26% compared to 2019.

An increasing group of third country nationals, in particular Ukrainians, posted to Belgium

Posted persons to Belgium mainly come from the Netherlands (21% of total) and Poland (20% of total).
Especially the increased importance of Lithuania as sending country, within a very short period, is striking.
In 2019, Lithuania was not yet in the top 10 of most important sending countries, while in 2021 one out of
ten persons posted to Belgium came from Lithuania. The number of posted persons from outside the EU
is of little importance (some 3% in total for 2021). However, based on data by nationality, it appears that
many persons posted from another Member State to Belgium are third country nationals (TCNs).
In 2021, about one out of four persons posted to Belgium were TCNs. The posted TCNs mainly
concerned Ukrainians (38% of the posted TCNs), Belarusians (17% of the posted TCNs), Brazilians (8%
of the posted TCNs) and Bosnians and Herzegovinians (4% of the posted TCNs). The relative importance
of the number of Ukrainians and Belarusians in the total number of posted workers increased in a very short
period. Both nationalities hardly appeared in the LIMOSA statistics before 2018. The number of posted
persons for both nationalities rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic (+69% compared to 2019 for
Ukrainians and +263% for Belarusians). In 2021, the number of posted Ukrainians increased by 75%
compared to 2020 and the number of posted Belarusians even by 125%. Due to these strong increase in
both 2020 and 2021, Ukrainian posted workers represent 10% and Belarusian posted workers 5% of the

7 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en

8
total number of posted workers in Belgium. The short and medium-term evolution of the number of
Ukrainians posted to Belgium is highly uncertain given the current dramatic situation in Ukraine.
Six main ‘routes’ of TCNs posted to Belgium can be identified. By far the most important route is that of
Ukrainians who are posted to Belgium from Poland. These persons are mainly active in construction and
road transport. In 2021 posted TCNs with the Ukrainian nationality accounted for 26% of the workers
posted from Poland, while this was ‘only’ 16% in 2020 and 13% in 2019. These figures give the impression
that Ukrainians are gradually replacing Polish nationals in the postings from Poland to Belgium. Indeed,
there is a strong overrepresentation of this group: Ukrainian nationals make up 5% of the workforce in
Poland, but more than five times as much of the workforce which is posted from Poland to Belgium.
Furthermore, a lot of Ukrainians are posted from Lithuania, who are mainly active in road transport. Both
Poland and Lithuania are also important sending Member States of posted Belarusians. Finally, there is a
route of posted Brazilians from Portugal and of posted Bosnians and Herzegovinians from Slovenia to
Belgium.

In theory, the application of the Posting of Workers Directive should result in a significant
wage increase of workers posted to Belgium
Posted workers are entitled to the same ‘remuneration’8 as local workers. Of course, this principle does not
apply when the remuneration in the ‘sending’ Member State is higher compared to that of the ‘receiving
Member State. Only for a limited number of sending Member States, wages might not increase if workers
are posted to Belgium. This will mainly concern the Nordic countries. It is estimated that about seven out
of ten workers posted to Belgium should receive a higher wage. For example, workers posted from Bulgaria
should receive a wage at least five times higher than the minimum wage applicable in Bulgaria when they
are posted to Belgium. However, the question arises whether posted workers also receive higher wages in
practice. Indeed, posted workers do not always receive the remuneration to which they are theoretically
entitled.
It is estimated that the gross wages for the persons posted to Belgium amounted to around € 2 billion in
2020. If they had not been posted but had been employed in their sending Member State, their gross wages
would have been approximately € 700 million lower. Consequently, their wages increased by about 50% (at
least in theory). The Belgian state does not receive a considerable amount of labour tax revenues because
social security contributions for incoming posted workers have to be paid in the sending Member State and
not in Belgium. It is estimated that this amounts to more than € 750 million, which is however ‘only’ about
1% of the annual sum of labour tax revenues received by the Belgian State from social security contributions.

The profile of outgoing postings is different from that of incoming postings

In 2020, approximately 25,500 workers were posted from Belgium to another Member State, this on average
twice a year. The number of outgoing posted workers thus appears to be much lower than that of incoming
posted workers. Almost nine out of ten of outgoing posted workers are posted by their Belgian employer
to neighbouring countries (France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany). This while ‘only’ four out
of ten incoming posted workers are from a neighbouring country.
Incoming posted workers are mainly employed in the Belgian construction sector. Belgian clients are in
particular active in the subsectors ‘Construction of residential and non-residential buildings’ (NACE 412)
(i.e., activities at large construction sites), ‘Building completion and finishing’ (NACE 433), ‘Electrical,
plumbing and other construction installation activities’ (NACE 432) and finally ‘Other specialised
construction activities’ (NACE 439). In particular large Belgian companies seem to rely on the services of
posted workers. The sectors of activity in which outgoing posted workers are employed are very diverse and
a large group of workers is employed by a Belgian temporary employment agency or is active in the live
performance sector.

8 So no longer only ‘minimum rates of pay’ as provided by the previous version of the Posting of Workers Directive.

9
 About 13% of the persons reported in LIMOSA are self-employed. A large group of persons from Poland
and Slovakia are self-employed. This concerns 31% of the persons posted from Poland to Belgium and even
50% of the persons posted from Slovakia to Belgium. Moreover, the percentage of posted self-employed
persons in total appears to be much higher in the Belgian construction sector. Almost three out of ten
persons reported in LIMOSA and providing services in the construction sector have a self-employed status.
From a sending perspective, about one out of ten PDs A1 are issued to self-employed persons.

A high number of Portable Documents A1 issued by Belgium are granted retroactively

The employer of the posted worker or the posted self-employed person must inform the competent
institution of the Member State which social security legislation is applicable about their planned
transnational activities, whenever possible before these activities take place. Subsequently, after verification
of several conditions, a PD A1 will be provided by the competent institution. This certificate proves that
the social security legislation of the issuing Member State applies and confirms that the person concerned
has no obligations to pay social security contributions in another Member State. In a number of cases, a
posting may take place without the institutions being informed and thus without a PD A1 since a request
for a PD A1 might be made during or after the posting activities took place. On average, between 2017 and
2020, about 23% of PDs A1 issued by the competent institution in Belgium to workers posted to another
Member State were not granted in advance. The fact that the percentage of PDs A1 granted retroactively is
so high is rather surprising seeing that the application procedure in Belgium is relatively easy. It might
indicate that even a simple administrative procedure can be perceived as too much burden. The percentage
of PDs A1 issued retroactively does not seem to vary greatly depending on the Member State to which the
worker was posted. This result might again be somewhat surprising, certainly given the enforcement policy
in Austria and France on having a PD A1.

The number of inspectors and inspections focussing on the fight against cross-border social
fraud does not match to the prevalence of it
About 6% of the inspectors employed within the Belgian labour inspectorates focus on the fight against
cross-border social fraud, and thus on the compliance with the posting rules (2021 figures). Only 4% of the
inspections carried out by the Belgian labour inspectorates relate to the cross-border dimension of social
fraud.
In 2020, an infringement was found in more than half of the inspections relating to the compliance with
the posting rules. Based on recent figures published by SIOD/SIRS, the infringement rate even amounted
to 66% in 2021. Moreover, the infringement rate for inspections related to the cross-border dimension of
social fraud is much higher than for inspections related to the national dimension of social fraud. The
construction sector is the most inspected sector regarding the compliance with the posting rules.
Both the number of available inspectors and the number of inspections does not match the attention paid
to ‘social dumping’ in the public and political debates in Belgium. Due to the fact that much more
infringements are found during inspections on cross-border social fraud, it seems appropriate to increase
the number of labour inspectors who focus on this area. In 2021, the number of labour inspectors focusing
on the fight against cross-border social fraud increased from 64 FTEs to 69 FTEs compared to 2020. This
is a step in the right direction. Moreover, other forms of social fraud also remain persistent in Belgium.9
This reality was painfully confirmed during the COVID-19 pandemic by the abuse of financial support
measures and of OSH rules.

An intensive use of the available dialogue and conciliation procedures

In order to systematise the use of the conciliation and dialogue procedure in the handling of disputes relating
to the validity of PDs A1, the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security initiated the OSIRIS project in

9 For instance, the huge amount of attention given to the issue of ‘social dumping’ in the construction sector through the use of posting
sometimes creates the impression that ‘national’ undeclared work is no longer a problem. Yet it remains a challenge that cannot be ignored.

10
June 2015, in partnership with the other competent Belgian institutions. Since then, almost 1,600 cases have
been processed via the OSIRIS platform, of which nearly half concern PDs A1 issued by Poland. Ultimately,
this may lead to a withdrawal of the PD A1 by the competent institution in the issuing Member State. Every
year, between 0.5 and 1% of the total number of PDs A1 issued to workers posted to Belgium are withdrawn
by the competent institutions in the issuing Member States.
One of the aims of the Internal Market Information System (IMI) is to support administrative cooperation
and mutual assistance between the competent authorities of the Member States concerning the application
and enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive. This digital tool can be used by labour inspectorates
to request and exchange information. Besides Austria, Belgium is one of the most intensive users of the IMI
tool. In 2018, some 880 questions were sent through IMI, mostly related to requests for additional
information. This while only 34 questions were received.

The limited impact of the amended Posting of Workers Directive

The Act of 12 June 2020 relating to diverse matters of posting of workers to Belgium implements Directive
(EU) 2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC into Belgian legislation. The amended Posting of Workers
Directive seems to have a limited impact on the main stakeholders involved: labour inspectorates, posting
undertakings, posted workers and the Belgian clients. There is no indication that the new provisions had an
impact on the number and profile of postings to Belgium.
When the duration of the posting exceeds 12 months, the posted worker’s employer may be exempt, for
an additional six-month period, from the obligation to apply the additional Belgian working conditions
which must be complied with. In order to be exempt from applying these additional Belgian working
conditions, the employer must send a motivated notification to the labour inspectors of the Directorate-
General for Supervision of Social Laws of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social
Dialogue. This notification may also be sent by a representative of the employer. During the first year of
implementation, only 421 motived notifications were made by 35 unique employers and 19 unique
representatives. The main reasons for the requests were the COVID-19 pandemic and an unforeseen
extension of the project.
Efforts have been made to make the single official national website clear, transparent, comprehensive,
and easily accessible.10 The information on ‘working time and rest periods’ is by far the most frequently
consulted web page for all three available languages (French, Dutch and English - thus not in German, one
of the official languages in Belgium). The minimal amounts of remuneration are laid down per sector by the
competent joint committee. Information on the remuneration is provided on the single official national
website for 13 Joint Committees. The information for the food industry (Joint Committee 118) was most
frequently consulted during the first trimester of 2021.

10 https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting

11
Samenvatting

België is één van de belangrijkste ontvangende landen van gedetacheerde arbeidskrachten in de Europese
Unie (EU). Deze situatie waarbij een onderneming werknemers tijdelijk naar een ander land stuurt om daar
gedurende een bepaalde periode te werken,11 is zelfs een belangrijke vorm van tewerkstelling geworden in
verschillende Belgische (arbeidsintensieve en prijsgevoelige) sectoren, niet in het minst in de bouwsector.
De statistische evidentie die op EU-niveau wordt verstrekt, laat slechts een fractie zien van de
administratieve gegevens die in België over inkomende en uitgaande detachering beschikbaar zijn. Hierdoor
blijven verschillende onderzoeksvragen en specifieke fenomenen onbeantwoord of onderbelicht. Dit
landenrapport, opgesteld in het kader van het onderzoeksproject POSTING.STAT12, heeft tot doel
aanvullende of zelfs nieuwe evidentie aan te leveren over 1) de omvang, de kenmerken en de impact van
intra-EU detachering van en naar België; 2) de omvang en kenmerken van de arbeids- en sociaalrechtelijke
inbreuken bij intra-EU detachering richting België; 3) de impact van de COVID-19 pandemie op intra-EU
detachering van en naar België; en tenslotte 4) de economische impact van de recent gewijzigde
Detacheringsrichtlijn (Richtlijn 2018/957 tot wijziging van Richtlijn 96/71/EG)13.
De beschikbaarheid van administratieve gegevens over detachering binnen de EU en de volledigheid ervan
hangt grotendeels af van de mate waarin ondernemingen verplicht worden om deze activiteiten te melden,
dit zowel in de zendende als in de ontvangende lidstaat. Op Belgisch niveau worden gegevens over het
aantal inkomende detacheringen verzameld via de LIMOSA-aangifte. De verplichting om een LIMOSA-
aangifte te maken is sinds 1 april 2007 van toepassing op buitenlandse werkgevers en zelfstandigen die een
tijdelijke opdracht in België komen uitvoeren.14 Voor de analyse van detacheringen vanuit België naar andere
lidstaten kan gebruik gemaakt worden van de WABRO-databank. Deze databank bevat informatie over het
zogenaamde A1-attest.15 Bij de detachering van werknemers vanuit België levert de bevoegde administratie
(de Rijksdienst voor Sociale Zekerheid) een A1-attest af waaruit moet blijken dat aan de voorwaarden voor
detachering is voldaan en dat de betrokkene onderworpen blijft aan de Belgische sociale zekerheid. Al dient
gezegd dat zowel de data beschikbaar op basis van de LIMOSA-aangifte als deze op basis van het A1-attest
hun beperkingen hebben. Bovendien zijn beide databanken moeilijk met elkaar vergelijkbaar. Het gaat dus
steeds om een indicatie van de omvang en het profiel van detachering van en naar België. Om een beeld te
krijgen van de kenmerken en de omvang van de arbeids- en sociaalrechtelijke inbreuken bij detachering naar
België wordt gebruik gemaakt van gegevens die door de Sociale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst (SIOD)
worden verzameld en gerapporteerd. Deze gegevens geven een goed zicht op de inspecties die zijn
uitgevoerd door de bevoegde federale inspectiediensten en de resultaten hiervan16. Het gebruik van
inspectiedata heeft wel verschillende beperkingen waarvan de lezer zich bewust moet zijn. Zo vertekenen
inspectiegegevens waarschijnlijk de werkelijke relatie tussen detachering en transnationale sociale fraude.
Inspecties vinden immers meestal plaats op basis van een ‘risicoanalyse’, bovendien vooral gericht op

11 Vanuit een sociaalrechtelijk perspectief, door toepassing van Artikel 12 van Verordening 883/2004, kunnen ook zelfstandigen zichzelf
detacheren. Zelfstandigen vallen evenwel niet onder de Detacheringsrichtlijn.
12 POSTING.STAT brengt een onderzoeksconsortium van universiteiten en onderzoekscentra uit 10 verschillende lidstaten samen. HIVA-KU Leuven
is verantwoordelijk voor het projectbeheer en de algemene coördinatie van de projectactiviteiten. Het geografische bereik van het
projectvoorstel bestrijkt de zes belangrijkste ‘zendende’ lidstaten (Duitsland, Polen, Italië, Spanje, Slovenië en Luxemburg) en de zes
belangrijkste ‘ontvangende’ lidstaten (Duitsland, Frankrijk, België, Oostenrijk, Nederland en Luxemburg) van gedetacheerde werknemers. Link
naar de publicaties van het POSTING.STAT-project.
13 De wet van 12 juni 2020 houdende diverse bepalingen inzake de detachering van werknemers implementeert richtlijn 2018/957 tot wijziging
van richtlijn 96/71/EG in de Belgische wetgeving. De wet is in werking getreden op 30 juli 2020 en wijzigt in hoofdzaak de wet van 5 maart 2002
betreffende de arbeids-, loon- en tewerkstellingsvoorwaarden in geval van detachering van werknemers in België en de naleving ervan, en
de wet van 24 juli 1987 betreffende de tijdelijke arbeid, de uitzendarbeid en het ter beschikking stellen van werknemers ten behoeve van
gebruikers.
14 www.limosa.be
15 https://www.socialsecurity.be/site_nl/employer/applics/gotot/index.htm
16 Toezicht op de Sociale Wetten (TSW) binnen de Federale overheidsdienst Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg (FOD WASO), de
inspectie van de Rijksdienst voor Sociale Zekerheid (RSZ) en de inspectie van het Rijksinstituut voor de Sociale Verzekeringen der Zelfstandigen
(RSVZ).

12
specifieke ‘risicosectoren’ (bv. de bouwsector). Dergelijke inspecties zullen hogere inbreukpercentages
opleveren en kunnen dus een vertekend beeld geven van de werkelijke inbreukgevoeligheid van detachering
richting België. Deze inspectiegegevens worden tevens aangevuld met cijfers van de Belgische Federale
Overheidsdienst Sociale Zekerheid over de dialoog en de bemiddelingsprocedure betreffende de geldigheid
van het A1-attest. Ten slotte is op basis van interviews en de beperkt beschikbare statistische evidentie een
eerste tentatieve analyse gemaakt van de mogelijke impact van de onlangs gewijzigde Detacheringsrichtlijn.

Een tewerkstellings- en importlek als gevolg van het hoge aantal gedetacheerde werknemers actief
in de Belgische bouwsector
In 2021 werden ongeveer 255.000 gedetacheerde personen (werknemers en zelfstandigen) gemeld in
LIMOSA, waarvan ongeveer 225.000 werknemers en 30.000 zelfstandigen. Gemiddeld waren er
dagelijks ongeveer 136.500 gedetacheerde personen actief in België. De groep van inkomende gedetacheerde
werknemers bedraagt daarom ongeveer 2,8% van de totale groep werknemers die in België werkzaam is.
Geïmporteerde diensten worden soms ‘een importlek’ genoemd omdat zij tot gevolg kunnen hebben dat
een deel van het nationaal inkomen (grotendeels lonen en winsten) weglekt naar het buitenland. In het geval
van intra-EU detachering wordt er beroep gedaan op de diensten van buitenlandse ondernemingen, wat tot
een uitstroom van inkomens en publieke inkomsten leidt. Dit risico doet zich voornamelijk voor in de
Belgische bouwsector. Gedetacheerde werknemers vertegenwoordigen immers ongeveer een vijfde van de
totale tewerkstelling in de Belgische bouwsector. Daarnaast bedroeg het bedrag aan geïmporteerde diensten
in de bouwsector ongeveer € 1,5 miljard. Een groot deel van de geplande investeringen in het herstelplan
dat België bij de Europese Commissie heeft ingediend in het kader van het coronaherstelfonds is gewijd aan
de bouw en renovatie van gebouwen en woningen. De positieve impact van het herstelplan in termen van
het aantal bijkomende jobs zal dan ook hoofdzakelijk door de bouwsector gecreëerd worden. Gezien de
grote aanwezigheid van buitenlandse bedrijven en werknemers in de bouwsector via intra-EU detachering
zal het Belgische herstelplan echter niet alleen de Belgische economie, maar zeker ook de buitenlandse
werkgelegenheid en consumptie ten goede komen.

Een tijdelijke impact van de COVID-19 pandemie op het aantal gedetacheerden van en naar België
Als gevolg van de COVID-19 pandemie en de daaruit volgende beperkingen op het vrije verkeer binnen de
EU daalde het aantal gedetacheerde personen naar België met ongeveer 6% in 2020 ten opzichte van 2019.
Dit is een relatief kleine daling, ook wetende dat het niveau van het aantal gedetacheerden in 2020 immers
nog steeds hoger lag dan vóór 2017. Bovendien had de COVID-19 pandemie slechts een tijdelijk effect. Er
deed zich een sterke daling voor van het aantal gedetacheerde personen in april en mei 2020 (-12% ten
opzichte van dezelfde periode in 2019). In de daaropvolgende maanden herstelde het aantal gedetacheerden
zich evenwel richting het niveau van dat van 2019. Bovendien steeg het aantal gedetacheerde personen naar
België in 2021 met 5,5% t.o.v. 2020.
Niet enkel het aantal inkomende detacheringen, maar ook het aantal uitgaande detacheringen had te lijden
onder de COVID-19 pandemie. Het aantal gedetacheerde werknemers dat vanuit België naar een andere
lidstaat werden gestuurd, daalde in 2020 met 26% ten opzichte van 2019.

Een steeds grotere groep derdelanders, hoofzakelijk met de Oekraïense nationaliteit, wordt naar
België gedetacheerd
Personen die naar België gedetacheerd worden komen voornamelijk uit Nederland (21% van het totaal) en
Polen (20% van het totaal). Vooral het toegenomen belang van Litouwen als zendende lidstaat, dit binnen
een zeer korte periode, is opvallend. In 2019 stond Litouwen nog niet in de top 10 van belangrijkste
zendende landen. Dit terwijl in 2021 één op de tien gedetacheerde personen naar België uit Litouwen kwam.
Het aantal gedetacheerde personen van buiten de EU is van relatief weinig belang (zo’n 3% in totaal voor
2021). Uit de gegevens per nationaliteit blijkt echter dat heel veel derdelanders (personen met een andere
nationaliteit dan die van één van de lidstaten van de EU) vanuit een andere lidstaat naar België werden
gedetacheerd. In 2021 betrof ongeveer één op de vier gedetacheerde personen naar België een derdelander.

13
De gedetacheerde derdelanders betroffen voornamelijk Oekraïners (38% van de gedetacheerde
derdelanders), Wit-Russen (17% van de gedetacheerde derdelanders), Brazilianen (8% van de gedetacheerde
derdelanders) en Bosniërs (4% van de gedetacheerde derdelanders). Het relatieve belang van het aantal
Oekraïners en Wit-Russen in het totale aantal gedetacheerde werknemers is in een zeer korte periode
toegenomen. Beide nationaliteiten kwamen vóór 2018 nauwelijks voor in de LIMOSA-statistieken. Het
aantal gedetacheerden voor beide nationaliteiten steeg enorm tijdens de COVID-19-pandemie in 2020
(+69% ten opzichte van 2019 voor Oekraïners en +263% voor Wit-Russen). In 2021 steeg het aantal
gedetacheerde Oekraïners nog eens met 75% ten opzichte van 2020 en het aantal gedetacheerde Wit-Russen
zelfs met 125%. Door deze sterke toename in zowel 2020 als 2021 vertegenwoordigen gedetacheerde
Oekraïense werknemers 10% en gedetacheerde Wit-Russische werknemers 5% van het totale aantal
gedetacheerde werknemers in België. De evolutie op korte en middellange termijn van het aantal
gedetacheerde Oekraïners richting België is gezien de huidige dramatische situatie in Oekraïne natuurlijk
hoogst onduidelijk.
Er kunnen zes belangrijke routes van gedetacheerde derdelanders richting België onderscheiden worden.
Veruit de belangrijkste route is die van Oekraïners die vanuit Polen naar België worden gedetacheerd. Deze
personen zijn vooral actief in de bouw en het wegvervoer. In 2021 maakten gedetacheerde Oekraïners 26%
uit van de vanuit Polen gedetacheerde personen, terwijl dit ‘slechts’ 16% in 2020 en 13% in 2019 was. Deze
cijfers wekken de indruk dat Oekraïners geleidelijk Poolse werknemers vervangen in de detacheringen vanuit
Polen naar België. Er is inderdaad een sterke oververtegenwoordiging van deze groep: Oekraïense
werknemers maken ongeveer 5% uit van de beroepsbevolking in Polen, terwijl meer dan vijf keer zoveel
Oekraïners vanuit Polen naar België worden gedetacheerd. Daarnaast worden ook heel wat Oekraïners
gedetacheerd vanuit Litouwen, die vooral actief zijn in het wegvervoer. Polen en Litouwen zijn tevens
belangrijke zendende lidstaten van gedetacheerde Wit-Russen. Tenslotte is er een route van gedetacheerde
Brazilianen vanuit Portugal en één van gedetacheerde Bosniërs vanuit Slovenië naar België.

De toepassing van de Detacheringsrichtlijn leidt in theorie tot een aanzienlijke loonsverhoging van
de naar België gedetacheerde werknemers
Gedetacheerde werknemers hebben recht op dezelfde ‘beloning’ als lokale werknemers. Dit beginsel is
uiteraard niet van toepassing wanneer het loon in de zendende lidstaat hoger is dan in de ontvangende
lidstaat. Slechts vanuit een beperkt aantal zendende lidstaten (voornamelijk vanuit de Scandinavische landen
Denemarken, Zweden en Finland) zal het loon van werknemers veelal niet stijgen wanneer zij naar België
worden gedetacheerd om er tijdelijk diensten te verrichten. Naar schatting zullen ongeveer zeven op de tien
gedetacheerde werknemers naar België een hoger loon ontvangen. Zo dienen bijvoorbeeld de vanuit
Bulgarije gedetacheerde werknemers naar België een loon te ontvangen dat meer dan vijf keer hoger ligt dan
het in Bulgarije geldende minimumloon.
In 2020 bedroeg het brutoloon voor de naar België gedetacheerde personen naar schatting € 2 miljard.
Indien deze groep niet was gedetacheerd naar België maar simpelweg in de zendende lidstaat was
tewerkgesteld, zou het brutoloon ongeveer € 700 miljoen lager gelegen hebben. Door de detachering naar
België zijn de lonen dus (theoretisch)17 met ongeveer 50% gestegen. Het toont tegelijk aan dat de Belgische
staat belangrijke inkomsten misloopt doordat socialezekerheidsbijdragen voor inkomende gedetacheerden
niet in België maar in de zendende lidstaat betaald worden. Het gaat hier naar schatting om meer dan
€ 750 miljoen, wat wel ‘slechts’ ongeveer 1% is van de jaarlijkse som aan inkomsten uit socialezekerheids-
bijdragen.

Het profiel van uitgaande detachering verschilt sterk van dat van inkomende detachering
In 2020 werden ongeveer 25.500 werknemers vanuit België naar een andere lidstaat gedetacheerd, dit
gemiddeld tweemaal per jaar. De omvang van uitgaande detachering blijkt dus beduidend lager te liggen dan
dat van inkomende detachering. Daarenboven doen zich ook onderlinge verschillen in het profiel voor.

17 Door toepassing van de geldende minimumlonen.

14
 Bijna negen op de tien gedetacheerde werknemers worden door hun Belgische werkgever gedetacheerd
richting buurlanden Frankrijk, Nederland, Luxemburg en Duitsland. Dit terwijl ‘slechts’ vier op de tien
inkomende gedetacheerde werknemers afkomstig zijn uit één van de buurlanden.
Inkomende gedetacheerde werknemers zijn in hoofdzaak tewerkgesteld in de Belgische bouwsector.
Belgische klanten zijn immers voornamelijk actief in de sub-sectoren ‘Bouw van woningen en andere
gebouwen’ (NACE 412) (met name op grote bouwwerven), ‘Afwerking van gebouwen’ (NACE 433),
‘Elektrische installatie, loodgieterswerk en overige bouwinstallatie’ (NACE 432) en ten slotte ‘Overige
gespecialiseerde bouwactiviteiten’ (NACE 439). Detachering vanuit België heeft dan weer eerder een
atypisch profiel. De sectoren waarin uitgaande gedetacheerde werknemers werkzaam zijn, zijn immers zeer
divers waarbij een grote groep via een Belgisch uitzendbureau wordt gedetacheerd of actief is in de sector
van podiumkunsten en live entertainment.
Ongeveer 13% van de in LIMOSA gerapporteerde personen betreffen zelfstandigen die zichzelf
detacheren naar België, hoofdzakelijk afkomstig uit Polen. Een grote groep van personen gedetacheerd
vanuit Polen en Slovakije heeft het zelfstandigenstatuut. Dit betreft 31% van de personen afkomstig uit
Polen en zelfs 50% van de personen afkomstig uit Slovakije. Bovendien blijkt het percentage gedetacheerde
personen met zelfstandigenstatuut veel hoger te liggen voor de Belgische bouwsector. Bijna drie op de tien
personen die een tijdelijke opdracht vervullen in de Belgische bouwsector, hebben het zelfstandigenstatuut.
Tenslotte betreft ongeveer negen op de tien gedetacheerde personen vanuit België een werknemer en dus
‘slechts’ één op de tien een zelfstandige.
Wat betreft de duur van de detacheringen van en naar België blijkt de periode dat diensten worden verricht
veelal relatief kort te zijn. Al doen zich mogelijks sterke verschillen voor tussen sectoren.

Een groot aantal van de A1-attesten wordt met terugwerkende kracht toegekend
In principe dient de werkgever van de gedetacheerde werknemer of de zelfstandige zelf de bevoegde
publieke administratie18 in kennis stellen van de geplande transnationale activiteiten, bij voorkeur voordat
deze activiteiten plaatsvinden. Vervolgens wordt, na verificatie van een aantal voorwaarden, door de
bevoegde publieke administratie een A1-attest verstrekt. Dit attest bewijst dat de socialezekerheidswetgeving
van de verstrekkende lidstaat van toepassing is en bevestigt dat de betrokkene geen verplichtingen heeft om
in een andere lidstaat socialezekerheidsbijdragen te betalen. In sommige gevallen zal een detachering
plaatsvinden zonder dat de bevoegde publieke administratie daarvan in kennis is gesteld en dus zonder een
A1-attest. Er is geen zicht op het aantal detacheringen die zonder een A1-attest vanuit België naar een andere
lidstaat plaatsvinden. Voorts kan tijdens of na de detachering een verzoek voor een A1-attest worden
ingediend. In dat geval wordt het A1-attest met terugwerkende kracht toegekend. Gemiddeld werd tussen
2017 en 2020 ongeveer 23% van de A1-attesten retroactief toegekend. Het feit dat het percentage A1-
attesten met terugwerkende kracht zo hoog ligt, is enigszins verrassend aangezien de aanvraagprocedure in
België relatief eenvoudig is. Het percentage retroactief toegekende A1-attesten lijkt bovendien niet sterk te
variëren naar gelang de ontvangende lidstaat. Ook dit is enigszins verrassend, zeker gezien het strenge
handhavingsbeleid in Oostenrijk en Frankrijk omtrent het beschikken over een geldig A1-attest.

Het aantal controles gericht op handhaving van de detacheringsregels staat niet in verhouding tot
de prevalentie ervan
Ongeveer 6% van de controleurs en inspecteurs die worden tewerkgesteld bij de Belgische sociale
inspectiediensten houdt zich bezig met de bestrijding van grensoverschrijdende sociale fraude en zodus met
de handhaving van de detacheringsregels. Bijgevolg heeft slechts 4% van de controles uitgevoerd door deze
sociale inspectiediensten betrekking op de grensoverschrijdende dimensie van sociale fraude.
In 2020 werd bij meer dan de helft van de controles in verband met de strijd tegen grensoverschrijdende
sociale fraude een inbreuk vastgesteld. Recente cijfers voor 2021 spreken zelfs van een inbreuk bij twee op
de drie controles. Dit inbreukpercentage ligt aanzienlijk hoger dan bij controles die betrekking hebben op

18 In België is dat bij de RSZ voor werknemers en bij het RSVZ voor zelfstandigen.

15
de binnenlandse dimensie van sociale fraude, al is het inbreukpercentage hier ook aanzienlijk (bij ongeveer
vier op de tien controles werd een inbreuk vastgesteld). De bouwsector is veruit de meest gecontroleerde
(en inbreukgevoelige) sector omtrent de naleving van de detacheringsregels.
Zowel het aantal beschikbare inspecteurs als het aantal inspecties is niet in overeenstemming met de
aandacht die in het publieke en politieke debat in België aan ‘sociale dumping’ via detachering wordt besteed.
Aangezien bij controles op grensoverschrijdende sociale fraude aanzienlijk meer inbreuken worden
vastgesteld, lijkt het aangewezen om het aantal controleurs die zich hierop focussen, te verhogen. In 2021
steeg het aantal inspecteurs die zich hierop richten alvast van 64 naar 69 VTE’s t.o.v. 2020. Wat een eerste
stap in de goede richting is. Bovendien blijven ook andere vormen van sociale fraude hardnekkig in België.19
Deze realiteit werd pijnlijk bevestigd tijdens de COVID-19-pandemie door het misbruik van financiële
steunmaatregelen en inbreuken op de regelgeving betreffende gezondheid en veiligheid op het werk.

Een intensief gebruik van de beschikbare dialoog- en bemiddelingsprocedures

Om het gebruik van de bemiddelings- en dialoogprocedure bij de behandeling van geschillen over de
geldigheid van een A1-attest te systematiseren, heeft de Belgische Federale Overheidsdienst Sociale
Zekerheid in juni 2015 het OSIRIS-project opgestart, dit in samenwerking met de andere bevoegde
Belgische publieke instellingen. Sindsdien zijn bijna 1.600 zaken via het OSIRIS-platform behandeld,
waarvan bijna de helft betrekking had op door Polen afgeleverde A1-attesten. Dergelijke procedure kan
leiden tot intrekking van het A1-attest door de bevoegde publieke administratie in de lidstaat van afgifte.
Elk jaar wordt tussen 0,5 en 1% van het totale aantal A1-attesten dat is afgeleverd aan naar België
gedetacheerde werknemers ingetrokken.
Eén van de doelstellingen van het informatiesysteem voor de interne markt (IMI) is het ondersteunen van
administratieve transnationale samenwerking en wederzijdse bijstand tussen lidstaten met betrekking tot de
toepassing en handhaving van de Detacheringsrichtlijn. Dit digitale instrument kan door de arbeidsinspectie
worden gebruikt om informatie op te vragen en uit te wisselen. Naast Oostenrijk is België één van de meest
intensieve gebruikers van IMI. In 2018 werden via IMI ongeveer 880 vragen verstuurd. Dit terwijl er slechts
34 vragen werden ontvangen.

De beperkte impact van de gewijzigde Detacheringsrichtlijn

De wet van 12 juni 2020 houdende diverse bepalingen inzake de detachering van werknemers implementeert
de gewijzigde detacheringsrichtlijn. De gewijzigde Detacheringsrichtlijn lijkt een beperkte impact te hebben
op de betrokken actoren: arbeidsinspecties, buitenlandse ondernemingen, gedetacheerde werknemers en
Belgische klanten. Er zijn momenteel geen aanwijzingen dat de nieuwe bepalingen een effect hebben gehad
op de omvang en het profiel van de detacheringen naar België.
Wanneer de duur van de detachering langer is dan 12 maanden, kan de werkgever van de gedetacheerde
werknemer gedurende een bijkomende periode van zes maanden vrijgesteld worden van de verplichting om
bijkomende Belgische arbeidsvoorwaarden toe te passen. Om hiervan vrijgesteld te worden moet de
werkgever een gemotiveerde kennisgeving sturen naar de Federale Overheidsdienst Werkgelegenheid,
Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg. Deze kennisgeving kan ook door een vertegenwoordiger van de werkgever
worden uitgevoerd. Tijdens het eerste jaar werden slechts 421 gemotiveerde kennisgevingen ingediend door
35 unieke werkgevers en 19 unieke vertegenwoordigers. De belangrijkste redenen waren de COVID-19-
pandemie en een onvoorziene verlenging van het project.
Er zijn inspanningen geleverd om de enige officiële nationale website20 met informatie over de na te leven
loon- en arbeidsvoorwaarden in geval van detachering naar België duidelijk, transparant, volledig en
gemakkelijk toegankelijk te maken. De informatie over ‘arbeidstijd en rusttijden’ is veruit de meest
geraadpleegde webpagina voor de drie beschikbare talen (Frans, Nederlands en Engels). De

19 De enorme aandacht voor het probleem van ‘sociale dumping’ in de bouwsector door het gebruik van detachering wekt soms de indruk
dat zwartwerk door ‘Belgische’ ondernemingen, werknemers en zelfstandigen niet langer een probleem is. Toch blijft ook dit een uitdaging
die niet genegeerd kan worden.
20 https://werk.belgie.be/nl/themas/internationaal/detachering

16
minimumbedragen van de lonen worden per sector vastgelegd door het bevoegde paritair comité.
Dergelijke informatie wordt verstrekt op de enige officiële nationale website voor 13 paritaire comités. De
informatie voor de voedingsindustrie (paritair comité 118) werd het vaakst geraadpleegd tijdens het eerste
trimester van 2021.

17
 1. Introduction

There are several forms of cross-border labour mobility in the EU. There is labour mobility to another
Member State under the free movement of workers (Article 45 TFEU) and the freedom of establishment
(Article 49 TFEU). This includes long-term intra-EU labour mobility by ‘EU movers’ (i.e., EU citizens of
working age who reside in a Member State other than their Member State of citizenship) and by
frontier/cross-border workers (i.e., EU citizens who work in a Member State other than their Member State
of residence), either as employee or self-employed, but also short-term intra-EU labour mobility by seasonal
workers (i.e., EU citizens who carry out seasonal work in another Member State for a limited period of time
without changing their habitual place of residence). However, intra-EU labour mobility should not be
narrowed down to movements that take place under Articles 45 and 49 TFEU. It may also take place in the
framework of the freedom to provide services (Article 56 TFEU). This form of intra-EU labour mobility,
called ‘posting of workers’, concerns the activity of a company sending (‘posting’) workers for a limited
period of time from one Member State (i.e., the sending or home Member State) to another Member State
(i.e., the receiving or host Member State) in order to provide a service.21
Belgium has a rather dual relationship with the use of intra-EU posting: it is often considered a ‘Trojan
horse’ while its use has increased significantly. Indeed, the posting of workers has become an important
form of employment in Belgium, not least in the Belgian construction sector. This while public and political
perception is rather negative about this form of intra-EU labour mobility.22 This reality shows that further
efforts should be made to map out the number, characteristics, and impact of intra-EU posting, as well as
of the infringements that occur during these activities. The mapping should distinguish between the use of
intra-EU posting (what is perfectly legal) and the infringements it entails in some specific sectors of activity.
Empirical evidence may refute or confirm existing perceptions and may support evidence-based policy both
a national and European level. However, it cannot be denied that the data available for this mapping exercise
also has its limitations and only portrays part of the reality (see below – section 1.2.2).

1.1 Research questions

Statistical evidence provided at EU level23 reveals only a fraction of the administrative data available in
Belgium on the posting of workers which, in turn, reveals only a fraction of the actual facts. This leaves
several questions as well as country-specific phenomena understudied and even unanswered.
The first objective of this report is to analyse administrative data on intra-EU posting from and to Belgium
for most recent years. Unlike some other Member States, Belgium has a wealth of data on intra-EU posting
that has already been used in the past to map out the phenomenon. 24 In that respect, this report concerns
an update of earlier research. Furthermore, additional attention is paid to some ‘forgotten sectors’ in the
posting debate (e.g., the live performance sector) as well as to the subsectors of some labour-intensive
sectors of activity (e.g., the construction sector).
A second objective of the report is to get a better view on the scale and profile of infringements related
to intra-EU posting. Posting of workers is often associated with cross-border social fraud. For some sectors
of activity this is certainly justifiable. The objective is to provide data on the number of inspections carried
out by Belgian labour inspectorates on the compliance with the posting rules and the outcome of these

21 From a social law perspective, by applying Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, self-employed persons can post themselves to another
Member State. However, self-employed persons do not fall within the scope of the Posting of Workers Directive.
22 Further cultivated by some recent dramatic cases. For instance, there was the deadly accident of five construction workers that occurred on
18 June 2021 at a school building site in Antwerp.
23 Mainly by two reports: the report that provides data on the Portable Documents A1 and the report that provides data on the prior declaration
tools. See also De Wispelaere, De Smedt & Pacolet, 2021a & 2021b. Furthermore, evidence is collected and reported on infringements related
to the issuance of the Portable Document A1 (Jorens, De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2021).
24 See, for instance, De Wispelaere, Chakkar & Struyven, 2020; De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017; Lens, Mussche & Marx, 2021a; 2021b; Lens, Marx
& Mussche, 2021.

18
inspections. The collection of such data should allow a (tentative) evaluation of the extent to which posting
to Belgium is subject to all kinds of infringements, and in which sectors of activity. The focus is only on
infringements that occur in the case of intra-EU posting to Belgium. This does not mean that there are no
infringements in the case of intra-EU posting from Belgium.
Furthermore, this report aims to focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the posting of
workers from and to Belgium. There was and still is a lack of timely and accurate data at EU level on the
impact of COVID-1925 on all forms of intra-EU labour mobility. In order to solve this, monthly or even
weekly data on the evolution of the number of incoming and outgoing postings could be collected at national
level. This research question aims to reveal whether such data are available for Belgium.
Finally, a first ‘economic’ assessment26 of the implementation and application of Directive (EU) 2018/957
amending Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational
provision of services is made.27 Some important changes introduced by the revised Posting of Workers
Directive are the application to posted workers of all the mandatory elements of ‘remuneration’ (instead of
the ‘minimum rates of pay’), and for long-term postings (longer than 12 or 18 months) the application of
an extended set of terms and conditions of employment of the receiving Member State. The Act of 12 June
2020 on diverse matters of posting of workers to Belgium implements Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending
Directive 96/71/EC into Belgian legislation.28 The question arises whether a change of certain ‘quantitative
variables’ can be observed. We are thinking in particular of changes in the duration of posting, a possible
increase of the number of posted self-employed persons, an increase in salaries and social security
contributions paid, etc.
The four main research questions are:
1. What are the characteristics, the scale, and the impact of intra-EU posting from and to Belgium?
(Chapter 2)
2. What are the characteristics and the scale of infringements related to intra-EU posting from and to
Belgium? (Chapter 3)
3. What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intra-EU posting from and to Belgium?
(Chapter 4)
4. What is the ‘economic’ impact of the amended Posting of Workers Directive (Directive (EU)
2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC) on intra-EU posting from and to Belgium? (Chapter 5)

1.2 Research methodology

In order to gain better insights into these four research topics, a detailed analysis of (micro-)administrative
data from the competent public authorities and enforcement bodies in Belgium is needed. The data sources
that are used for this exercise and their limitations are described below.

1.2.1 Administrative micro-data

The availability of relevant and reliable data is a crucial condition to be able to formulate an answer to above
research questions. This is not self-evident since data collection on posting is still in its infancy in many
Member States. At Belgian level, data on the number of incoming postings to Belgium are collected via the
LIMOSA declaration.29,30 The obligation to file a LIMOSA declaration has been in force since 1 April 2007
for incoming posted workers and self-employed persons. These data are analysed to describe posting from
an incoming perspective. For outgoing postings, in particular the WABRO database (Working Abroad) has

25 This is actually the case for all sudden events, including the current flow of refugees from Ukraine.
26 Several Belgian legal experts commented already on the main legal consequences for Belgium (see e.g., Aerts & De Roo, 2021; Clesse &
Morsa, 2020; Pecinovsky, 2020; Verschueren, 2021).
27 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018L0957. For the current consolidated version of the Posting of Workers
Directive see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A01996L0071-20200730.
28 https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/change_lg.pl?language=nl&la=N&table_name=wet&cn=2020061205
29 www.limosa.be
30 Directive 2014/67/EU (i.e., the ‘Enforcement Directive’) allows Member States to require a service provider established in another Member
State to make a ‘simple declaration’ containing the relevant information necessary in order to allow factual controls at the workplace.

19
been analysed. This database contains data on the Portable Documents A1 (PD A1) issued to workers by
the National Social Security Office (NSSO) (i.e., the competent administration in Belgium).31 This certificate
proves that the social security legislation of the issuing Member State applies and confirms that the person
concerned has no obligations to pay social security contributions in another Member State. The PD A1 is
to be requested by the employer when workers are posted abroad (or by the self-employed person). Due to
the wealth of data both in the LIMOSA and WABRO database, it was possible to formulate an answer to
the questions related to the characteristics, the scale, and the impact of intra-EU posting from and to
Belgium (Chapter 2) and those related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Chapter 4).32,33 To describe
the characteristics of incoming posting, data for 2021 is mostly used. This while data for 2020 is used to
describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the characteristics of outgoing posting.
Furthermore, data from both LIMOSA and WABRO have recently been included in the ‘Datawarehouse
Labour Market and Social Protection’ of the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS). This makes it
possible, for example, to match the data available from the LIMOSA declaration with data on the profile of
the Belgian client. It should be noted that both the LIMOSA data and the PD A1 data have their limitations
(see below). Moreover, there is a risk of comparing apples and oranges when the results from both data sources
are confronted with each other (see Chapter 2).
In order to obtain a (partial) view on the characteristics and the scale of infringements related to intra-EU
posting (Chapter 3) reference is made to data collected and reported by the Social Information and
Investigation Service (SIOD/SIRS).34 These data provide a view on the number of inspections and
infringements related to the posting of workers to Belgium. In particular, this concerns inspections carried
out by the following Belgian labour inspectorates: the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law35,
the National Social Security Office (NSSO)36 and the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-
employed (NISSE).37 In addition, some specific activities and findings of the inspection services of the
Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law38 and the National Social Security Office (NSSO)39 are
reported separately.40 Finally, figures from the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security are reported
on the dialogue and conciliation procedure concerning the validity of the PD A1.41
Finally, based on interviews with several stakeholders42 as well as desk research, a preliminary assessment
has been made on the impact of the recently amended Posting of Workers Directive (Chapter 5). However,
it cannot be denied that more than a year and a half after the implementation of the Directive (EU)
2018/957, it is still difficult to make a thorough economic assessment of its impact.

1.2.2 Data quality and limitations

We cannot ignore the limitations of the data collected via LIMOSA and the WABRO database (Figure 1).
By making an assessment of the ‘quality’ of the data, it is possible to evaluate the reliability of the findings
in this report. Moreover, this helps to frame/explain the obtained results in light of the data limitations. It

31 Please note that in Belgium, the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE) issues the Portable Document A1 to the
self-employed.
32 We would like to thank Lode Van Steenkiste and Bruno De Pauw (NSSO).
33 We would like to thank Nathalie Hoste and Marc Van Engeland (Constructiv) for providing data applicable to the Belgian construction sector.
34 We would like to thank Dominique Boels and Bart Stalpaert (SIOD/SIRS).
35 Compliance with the labour law aspects of posting as defined in the Posting of Workers Directive is mainly monitored by the Directorate-
General for Supervision of Social Laws.
36 Compliance with the social security aspects of posting as defined by Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 is mainly monitored by the inspection
departments of NSSO (workers) and NISSE (self-employed persons).
37 See https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting/liaison-offices-and-labour-inspectorate/supervision-social-legislation
38 We would like to thank Nancy Segers (TSW) and Hilaire Willems (SIOD/SIRS).
39 We would like to thank Eric Verlinden (NSSO).
40 Furthermore, in order to be able to post agency workers to Belgium, a foreign temporary employment agency should have accreditation from
the Belgian region in which the work is performed. This falls within the competence of the different Regions and Communities concerned
(Flemish Region, Walloon Region, Brussels Capital Region and German-speaking Community). Data from the competent inspectorate in
Flanders is collected and reported on the compliance with this obligation. We would like to thank Thomas Rossie and Vincent Vandenameele
(Flemish Social Inspection).
41 We would like to thank Marc Morsa (FPS Social Security).
42 We would like to thank Nancy Segers (TSW), Hilaire Willems (SIOD/SIRS), Hilde Thys (AGORIA) and Natasja Engels (Federgon).

20
should always be clear to the reader, and hopefully also for follow-up research, what has and has not been
measured and how. However, we would first like to point out the added value of the data used. Given the
wealth of data present in the LIMOSA database, and to a lesser extent in the WABRO database, it was
possible to formulate an answer to the research questions.
The availability of data on intra-EU posting and the completeness of it largely depends on the extent to
which companies are obliged to declare, both in the Member State of establishment and in the host Member
State, that they intend to provide services in another Member State.
Let us first discuss the main limitations of the data collected by LIMOSA. A LIMOSA declaration should
be made for employees sent to work on a temporary or part-time basis in Belgium. In other words, workers
who have been hired in a country other than Belgium and habitually work in a country other than Belgium.
Furthermore, a declaration is required for every self-employed who comes to Belgium to pursue a temporal
or partial self-employed activity in a high-risk sector (construction, meat processing industry, and cleaning
industry),43 but who neither resides permanently nor is settled in Belgium. However, there are several
exemptions.44 They depend on the reasons for coming to Belgium and the duration of the stay. The
following activities are exempt from the obligation to make a LIMOSA declaration:
 International transport: workers in the international transport sector for passengers and goods are
exempt, with the exception of inland transport in Belgium;
 Academic conferences: workers and self-employed persons attending academic conferences in
Belgium are exempt;
 Small-group meetings: workers and self-employed persons attending meetings with a closed attendee
list (strategic negotiations, contract negotiations with clients, etc.) are exempt;
 Installation and assembly: workers and self-employed persons sent to Belgium for the initial assembly
and/or installation of goods are exempt. This applies only to qualified and/or specialised workers
in the business supplying the goods, or the self-employed supplier. The work may not exceed
eight days. This exemption does not apply to the construction sector;
 Urgent repair and maintenance work: specialised technicians from foreign companies and self-
employed persons are exempt if they come to Belgium to carry out urgent maintenance or repair
work on machines or equipment. Machines or equipment must have been delivered by their
employer or by the self-employed persons themselves to the business where the
repair/maintenance took place. Such technicians may not stay on Belgian soil for more than
five days per month;
 Self-employed business people: self-employed business people are exempt if they stay on Belgian soil
for business purposes for not more than five days per month. Independent business managers
and agents are also exempt from the declaration requirement if they are participating in company
staff committees and company general meetings in Belgium. They cannot stay in Belgium more
than five days per month for business purposes either;
 Athletes: workers in foreign companies are exempt from the requirement to declare if travelling to
Belgium for an international sports competition. They may only stay in Belgium for the duration
of the competition, and a maximum of three months per calendar year. This exemption also
applies to referees, support staff, official representatives, members of staff and any other person
recognised by the international or national sporting federations;
 Artists: artists with an international reputation are exempt on the condition that their stay on
Belgian soil for such purposes does not exceed 21 days per quarter. This exemption also applies
to the support staff needed for the performance and who come to Belgium as workers;
 Scientists: they are exempt if they participate in a scientific programme at a host university or
scientific institute on Belgian territory. They may not stay for more than three months per
calendar year;

43 In 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled that the LIMOSA declaration for self-employed persons was in contradiction to the free movement
of services (see judgment C-577/10).
44 See also https://www.international.socialsecurity.be/working_in_belgium/en/limosa.html - See ‘who is exempt from LIMOSA?’

21
  Public administration staff;
 Staff at international institutions: insofar as the institution’s status is governed by an international
treaty that has been ratified;
 Diplomats.
Postings that fall under the above activities should not be reported in LIMOSA. This means that the total
number of postings to Belgium as well as the number of postings in certain sectors is underestimated.
Especially short-term postings do not have to be reported. Consequently, it will be the case that the number
of postings in the Belgian metal industry (as ‘installation and assembly’ and ‘urgent repair and maintenance
work’ are exempt from reporting in LIMOSA), in the Belgian live performance sector and in academia is
(strongly) underestimated. In addition, ‘business trips’ are also exempt. This reality creates a risk of
underestimating the number of postings in knowledge-driven sectors and the number of ‘project-driven’
postings. Moreover, because of these exemptions, certain activities and sectors will be overrepresented in
LIMOSA compared to their actual share in the number of incoming postings in Belgium. This is a major
shortcoming. Not least when aiming to formulate policy conclusions based on the findings from the analysis
of the LIMOSA data.
Moreover, not every person posted to Belgium will be reported in LIMOSA, even if a declaration has to
be made for this person. In that respect, the data in this report only show the scale and profile of the
‘reported’ postings. Unfortunately, the number of unreported postings is a ‘dark number’. A positive point
here is that the LIMOSA declaration is a legal obligation under penalty of administrative or criminal
sanctions.45 National legislation obliges the foreign posting undertaken to notify the person posted in the
first place. Moreover, all those for whom work is carried out in Belgium may also be sued if they do not
report to the authorities that proof of a LIMOSA declaration has not been presented.
LIMOSA only reports the intention to send persons to Belgium. Despite the fact that notifications can be
cancelled, it cannot be excluded that no services will be provided in Belgium. Therefore, a notification does
not necessarily equate to actual employment, which is another limitation of the data. The scale of this group
is not known, but probably not too large. Especially for estimating the duration of posting we consider this
is a relevant remark. After all, the reported duration in LIMOSA is not necessarily the same as the actual
duration of posting.
Since October 2017, more detailed figures by sector of activity are available for the group of incoming
posted workers. In the past, only the scale of postings in the construction sector and postings through
temporary employment agencies were known. Despite the possibility to report activities in 17 specific
sectors of activity,46 it appears that a large group of the posted workers (some 25% in 2021) are still reported
under the category ‘other sector’. In addition, we observe that the number of ‘declared’ posted persons in
the construction sector decreased over the past years. This seems to be a statistical artefact rather than a real
decline in postings in the Belgian construction sector. Since the end of 2017, it is requested for activities in
the construction sector (Joint Committee No. 124) whether the employer pays a premium which is
comparable to the applicable ‘fidelity stamps’ in Belgium. There is a real chance that companies avoid this
question by reporting their activities under the category ‘other sector’, despite the fact that they are active
in the construction sector. Consequently, there are doubts about the reliability of the figures by sector of
activity which may lead to premature conclusions. Furthermore, since the end of 2017, the ‘accreditation

45 An employer who has not made a LIMOSA declaration may be subject to a level 4 sanction, namely an administrative fine of between € 2,400
and € 24,000 or a criminal fine of between € 4,800 and € 48,000, multiplied by the number of workers involved. In addition, this can lead to
imprisonment of between 6 months and 3 years (see Article 182 of the Belgian Social Criminal Code) (Elias & Van de Perre, 2021: 275). For a
translation of the Belgian Social Criminal Code see De Coninck et al., 2013. See also Chapter 3 for more detailed figures.
46 Construction; meat processing; agricultural sector; cleaning; security; ICT, financial institutions and insurance; production and distribution of
electricity, gas and water; health care and social services; accommodation and catering; private households; metalwork; electrical
installation and assembly works; petrochemical industry; transport and distribution; wood and furniture industry; trade in other consumer goods.

22
number’ of the foreign temporary employment agency is requested in LIMOSA.47 The introduction of this
question has led to a sharp decline in the number of reported agency workers in LIMOSA. After all, only
agency workers posted by a foreign temporary employment agency with an authorisation are still reported
under this category. The fact that the number of reported posted agency workers was much higher before
2018 seems to indicate that many of these persons were posted by foreign temporary employment agencies
without an authorisation.
In 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled that the LIMOSA declaration for self-employed persons
was in contradiction to the free movement of services (see judgment C-577/10). It was therefore agreed to
transform the general LIMOSA declaration obligation for self-employed persons into a declaration
obligation for specific ‘high risk sectors’ (the construction sector, the meat processing industry, and the
cleaning industry). As a result, the LIMOSA reporting obligation for self-employed persons is limited to
these three sectors as of 1 January 2019. Consequently, a good view is available on the number of incoming
reported posted self-employed persons until 2018, but from 2019 onward, only the number of posted self-
employed persons active in the construction, meat or cleaning sectors are known. This is regrettable for
several reasons, not in the least because monitoring the evolution of the number of posted self-employed
persons is of great importance. Self-employed persons do not fall within the scope of the Posting of Workers
Directive. Consequently, there is a chance that the new provisions in Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending
the Directive 96/71/EC will be circumvented by adopting the self-employed status.
Finally, a distinction should be made between the data available on the number of posted persons for
whom it was reported in LIMOSA that they will be working in Belgium for at least one day in the course of
2021 (it concerns persons for whom a declaration was made in 2021 or in an earlier year) (broad approach)
versus the data on the number of posted persons for whom a LIMOSA declaration was made in 2021 (narrow
approach). The analysis in this report focuses on the first group (some 255,000 persons in 2021). Though, it
might be the case that data is not always available for this group (reported in the ‘business data’ of the
NSSO), which implies that in that case the ‘narrow’ group should be analysed (some 227,000 persons in
2021).
The data from the WABRO database, which is used to outline the profile of outgoing postings, also has
its limitations (see Figure 1). This mainly concerns the question to what extent a PD A1 is a good indicator
to measure posting. PDs A1 are used for various cases: pursuing activities in another Member State on the
basis of Article 12 of the Basic Regulation (i.e., posting); pursuing activities in two or more Member States
on the basis of Article 13 of the Basic Regulation; ‘Article 16 agreements’; civil servants; mariners; flight or
cabin crew members; contract staff of the EU. For the analysis of intra-EU posting, PDs A1 issued
according to Article 12 will be considered in particular. Nonetheless, workers who pursue an activity in two
or more Member States (Article 13 of the Basic Regulation) may fall under the terms and conditions of the
Posting of Workers Directive.
In order to prove that a worker or a self-employed person remains subject to the social security system of
the Member State of origin a PD A1 can be requested by the posting undertaking or the self-employed
person. The current legal framework provides that the employer or the self-employed person must inform
the competent authorities about their planned transnational activities (including ‘business trips’), whenever
possible before these activities take place.48 In practice, authorities are not always informed about these
transnational activities. In that regard, there might be a discrepancy between the number of PDs A1 issued
under Article 12 of the Basic Regulation and the actual number of persons being sent abroad.

47 In order to be able to post agency workers to Belgium, a foreign temporary employment agency should have accreditation from the Belgian
region in which the work is performed. The rules relating to authorisation conditions and procedures exclusively fall within the competence of
the different Regions and Communities concerned (Flemish Region, Walloon Region, Brussels Capital Region and German-speaking
Community). See also https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting/working-conditions-be-respected-case-posting-
belgium/temporary-agency
48 This obligation is defined by Article 15 (1) of the Implementing Regulation. As stated by the European Commission in the Practical Guide on
Posting: “as far as the coordination of social security is concerned, Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009 provide that, for every cross-
border work-related activity (including ‘business trips’) the employer, or any self-employed person concerned, is under the obligation to notify
the competent (home) Member State, whenever possible in advance, and obtain a Portable Document A1 (PD A1). That obligation covers
any economic activity, even if only of short duration. These Regulations do not provide for any exceptions for business trips either.”

23
Figure 1. Overview of the limitations of the LIMOSA and WABRO databases
LIMOSA (incoming posting) WABRO (outgoing posting)
 Underestimates the extent of incoming posting due to the fact that  Contains only data about employees and therefore
certain categories are exempt from the obligation to submit a not about outgoing self-employed persons;
LIMOSA declaration;
 Not every person posted to Belgium is reported in LIMOSA. The  Having a PD A1 is not obligatory, so there is an
volume of the number of unreported postings is a ‘dark number’; underestimation of outgoing posting;
 A notification in LIMOSA does not necessarily equate to being  Having a PD A1 does not necessarily equate to
employed in Belgium. Only the intention to post persons to Belgium being employed abroad.
is reported;
 The year of notification in LIMOSA does not necessarily correspond
to the year of employment;
 Self-reporting on the employment sector may differ from the actual
situation;
 Incomplete picture of the number of posted self-employed persons
because there is only a notification requirement for three ‘high-risk
sectors’: construction, meat, and cleaning.

Finally, the limitations of the mapping exercise concerning the infringements related to intra-EU posting
should be highlighted. (Legal) concepts such as “What is an inspection?”, “What is an infringement?” and
“What is fraud?” are difficult to define and quantify. Their qualification often differs between inspection
services and between countries. As a result, there is a risk of comparing ‘apples with oranges’ when trying
to assess the extent of ‘irregular’ postings in a Member State, or when trying to make a comparative analysis
within and between Member States. Moreover, the question arises whether the findings regarding the extent
and profile of violations in case of posting based on data from the labour inspectorates are biased or not (as
referred to in chapter 4). After all, inspections will mostly take place on the basis of a risk assessment (by the
labour inspector, by data matching or data mining, or based on a complaint49), mostly in ‘risk sectors’ (e.g.,
the construction sector). Non-randomized inspections will yield higher infringement rates and may therefore
give a distorted view of the actual scale of infringements related to intra-EU posting. In order to estimate
the real extent of infringements in case of intra-EU posting, research methodologies other than the analysis
of inspection results are more suitable. This could involve a survey of the economic actors involved in
posting (workers, self-employed, posting undertakings, clients) as well as inspections of a random selected
group of posting undertakings/posted workers in all sectors of activity.

49 For instance, since the launch of the Point of Contact for Fair Competition on 5 October 2015, a total of 1,510 reports of possible ‘social
dumping’ have been received (data until 31 December 2020) (SIOD/SIRS, 2022).

24
2. Scale, characteristics and impact of intra-EU
posting

This chapter reports data on persons posted to Belgium but also on persons sent from Belgium to another
country. The latter flow is sometimes forgotten when the topic is discussed in Belgium. By analysing both
perspectives, a statement can be made as to whether the numbers between both flows differ significantly,
as well as their profile.

2.1 To Belgium
This section focuses on quantifying the number of persons posted to Belgium and describes their profile in
detail (by sending country, citizenship and status) mainly based on data from the LIMOSA declaration. As
already stated, these data have some important limitations. The LIMOSA data do not provide an exhaustive
view on the extent and profile of intra-EU posting to Belgium. Nevertheless, it is by far the best data source
that can be used to obtain a picture of both dimensions.
Two drivers are often distinguished when discussing intra-EU posting. Posting of workers can be cost-
driven, with flows from Member States with lower labour costs to Member States with higher labour costs,
often to provide services in labour-intensive and price-sensitive sectors of activity (for instance, in the
construction sector, mostly at large construction sites, in transnational road freight transport, in the meat
processing industry, in agriculture and horticulture etc.). However, intra-EU posting should not be narrowed
down to this driver. In addition, posting of workers can be ‘skills-driven’ and ‘project-driven’. This usually
concerns the provision of temporary services because there are qualitative or quantitative labour
shortages50,51 or because a specific expertise is needed. The figures below show that both drivers (‘cost-
driven’ and ‘skills-driven’) are present in the postings to Belgium.

2.1.1 Measuring the flow of persons posted to Belgium

Posting of workers has become an important form of labour mobility to Belgium as well as an important
type of employment in various sectors of the Belgium economy. The phenomenon showed a very strong
growth until 2015. In recent years, the growth has levelled off, with 2016 even showing a slight decrease
compared to 2015 (-0.6%) (Figure 2). Therefore, it seems that the phenomenon of posting has reached
‘maturity’, with a stable number of persons performing temporary services in Belgium every year.
In 2021, approximately 255,000 persons (workers and self-employed persons) were posted to Belgium, of
which some 225,000 posted workers and 30,000 posted self-employed persons (Table 1).52 This concerns
persons for whom a LIMOSA declaration was made in 2021 or earlier.53 In 2021, the number of reported
persons in LIMOSA was about the same as in 2019, and implied an increase of 5.5% compared to the
‘COVID-19 pandemic year 2020’. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on free movement,
the number of persons reported in LIMOSA decreased by 6.3% in 2020 compared to 2019 (see Chapter 4 for
an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic).

50 See the recent report on labour shortages and surpluses (McGrath, 2022). A total of 28 occupations, employing 14% in the EU workforce in
2020, were classified as shortages – and 19 occupations were classified as shortages of high magnitude. The list of shortages is dominated by
just four groups of occupations: healthcare related occupations; software professionals; construction, and engineering craft workers. These
four occupation groups account for 21 of the 28 identified shortage occupations and for 64% of the total employment in the 28 occupations.
51 The Belgian construction sector, which is said to be mainly cost-driven, is also facing labour shortages. Roughly 20,000 additional construction
workers are needed. About seven out of ten of the (large) Belgian construction companies have one or more vacancies.
https://www.hln.be/economie/20-000-bouwvakkers-per-jaar-nodig-sector-eist-dat-werklozen-worden-ingezet~a1d39a5c/;
https://confederationconstruction.be/p%C3%A9nurie-de-main-d%E2%80%99%C5%93uvre-dans-la-construction-tous-ceux-qui-veulent-
travailler-sont-les-bienvenus
52 For some 227,000 persons a LIMOSA declaration was made in 2021 (narrow approach).
53 Note that this only concerns the group of persons reported in LIMOSA. The actual number of persons posted to Belgium, including those not
reported in LIMOSA, is not known.

25
Figure 2. Evolution of the number of persons reported in LIMOSA, 2015 - 2021

260,000 257,728 8.0%

254,724
255,000 6.0%
5.6% 249,755 5.5%
250,000
4.0%
Number of persons

244,144 3.2%
245,000 241,368
2.3% 2.0%

% change
240,000
-0.6% 0.0%
235,000 232,649
231,168
-2.0%
230,000
-4.0%
225,000

220,000 -6.3% -6.0%

215,000 -8.0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Number % change

Source LIMOSA database (business info applicable to broad group)

This group of 255,000 posted persons will not have provided services in Belgium at the same moment in
2021, mainly because they are often posted for a relatively short period of time.54 As such, it is important
to know the average of the number of incoming posted persons active in the Belgian economy. In 2020,
there were about 136,500 posted persons active in Belgium on average, of which approximately 119,000
were employed and 18,000 self-employed (Table 1).
The number of posted persons does not necessarily follow a stable evolution over the year. In 2021, the
greatest peak in posted persons was visible in the months of October and November, while the level was
significantly lower in January. A similar evolution during the reference year occurred in 2018 and 2019. Only
in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a completely other evolution occurred (see Chapter 4).

Table 1. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, 2021

Workers Self-employed Total
January 96,210 14,771 110,592
February 102,214 16,589 118,340
March 110,462 17,767 127,649
April 112,943 18,177 130,505
May 116,174 18,737 134,209
June 120,471 19,167 138,920
July 119,607 18,136 137,073
August 120,172 17,922 137,426
September 130,643 19,276 149,147
October 133,470 19,554 152,192
November 133,784 19,746 152,707
December 130,966 19,187 149,328
Average 118,926 18,252 136,507
Total 224,461 33,190 254,724
Source LIMOSA database (business info applicable to broad group)

54 The average duration of the posting period per person amounted to 170 days in 2021 (see section 2.1.2.6).

26
Other data sources may also give an indication of the inflow of persons posted to Belgium. Below we briefly
discuss some possible data sources and their (dis)advantages.
Firstly, the number of persons who have received a PD A1 for activities in Belgium can be counted.
Nevertheless, there will be a discrepancy between the number of incoming posted persons with a PD A1
and the number of persons notified in LIMOSA. Indeed, persons with a PD A1 for Belgium may not have
been reported in LIMOSA. For instance, workers who are sent for a very short period to Belgium (for
example, workers on ‘business trips’, attending conferences and meetings) may have a PD A1 under Article
12 BR while being exempt from notification in LIMOSA. In addition, international truck drivers may have
a PD A1 under Article 13 BR but their activities will not be reported in LIMOSA. The overlap between
LIMOSA declarations versus PDs A1 granted under Article 12 BR and under Article 13 BR is difficult to
determine exactly. It seems appropriate to look especially at PDs A1 issued under Article 12 BR if a
comparison is to be made with LIMOSA data. In 2020,55 approximately 169,000 PDs A1 were issued under
Article 12 BR to posted workers and self-employed persons who were temporarily sent to Belgium (De
Wispelaere et al., 2022). Several PDs A1 may have been granted to the same person during 2020. However,
it is not known how many posted workers and self-employed workers are involved. The main reason why
the number of PDs A1 received under Article 12 by Belgium is (much) lower than the number of
declarations in LIMOSA is probably due to the compulsory nature of a LIMOSA declaration.56 A LIMOSA
declaration is a legal obligation under penalty of administrative or criminal sanctions, while having a PD A1
is not a precondition for posting. Consequently, in practice, a posting may take place towards Belgium
without the institutions in the sending Member State being informed of it.
Secondly, posting of workers and the export/import of services are strongly linked to each other.
Consequently, detailed data on the import of services can be an interesting source for mapping the
importance of posting. The Balance of Payments (BoP) provides data on international trade in services. This
is a statistical statement that summarises, over a given period of time, all the transactions of an economy
with the rest of the world. The balance of payments records all economic transactions undertaken between
the residents and non-residents of an economy during a given period. It thus provides information on the
total value of credits (or exports) and debits (or imports) for each BoP item and on the net result or ‘balance’
(credits minus debits) of the transactions with each partner. More specifically, the BoP makes it possible to
analyse the import of services in sectors with a high number of posted workers. These data are used when
discussing postings to the Belgian construction sector (see subsection 2.1.2.5) as they complement the available
LIMOSA data. Unfortunately, these data do not give any indication of the number of persons involved.
Furthermore, under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), services can be traded
internationally in four different ways - known as the four modes.57 Mode 4 refers to the presence of persons
in the territory of another country for the purpose of providing a service (UNECE, 2006; Magdeleine &
Maurer, 2008, 2009). Unfortunately, there are no data available for Belgium quantifying GATS mode 4.
Finally, another data source that might be used as a proxy for measuring the inflow of posted workers are
tourism statistics on persons travelling abroad for business or professional purposes. Such data are collected
and reported by Eurostat.58 These data have some important limitations. For instance, as stated by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE (2011a: 170) “It would be necessary to refine
these figures to identify the persons actually involved in the trading of services, since the tourism definition
covers other types of business visitors. It is not clear how well the category of business and professional
purposes is identified (i.e., to what extent it does not in practice cover people with an employment contract
– thus in many countries entry-exit cards refer to ‘work’, without distinguishing clearly between an
employment and a service contract).” Furthermore, trips for business and professional purposes can include

55 Data for 2021 are not yet available.

56 Moreover, workers who pursue an activity in two or more Member States (Article 13 of the Basic Regulation) might be reported in LIMOSA.
57 The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that entered into force in 1995. All
members of the WTO are parties to the GATS. Under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), services can be traded internationally
in four different ways: Mode 1: cross-border supply; Mode 2: by an established affiliate abroad; Mode 3: commercial presence; Mode 4:
presence of natural persons.
58 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/tourism/data/database

27
a wide range of trips, including training and conferences. These data do not include same-day visits, but
only trips with overnight stays. Between 2017 and 2020, there were approximately 2 million trips for business
and professional purposes from another Member State (mainly from the Netherlands and France) to
Belgium. This figure seems to indicate that the number of incoming posted persons to Belgium based on
the LIMOSA declarations is a strong underestimation of reality, especially because various activities and
sectors are exempt from making a declaration in LIMOSA (e.g., small group meetings, academic
conferences, self-employed business people etc.). Though, it should be acknowledged that the figure of
‘2 million’ also needs to be nuanced (see above comments). Moreover, it should be noted that one person can
make several trips per year.

2.1.2 Characteristics of persons posted to Belgium

2.1.2.1 By sending country: mainly from the Netherlands and Poland
Posted persons to Belgium mainly come from the Netherlands and Poland (Table 2). This was also the case
in 2021. However, the number of posted persons from the Netherlands has been declining in recent years
as the number decreased from 62,145 persons in 2019 to 53,313 persons in 2021. This while the number of
posted persons from Poland grew strongly compared to 2020 (+ 8,500 persons or + 20%), but also
compared to 2019. Both countries cover about a total of four out of ten persons reported in LIMOSA.
Although many come from neighbouring countries Germany, France, and Luxembourg, the importance of
the neighbouring countries in the number of postings to Belgium declined in recent years. In addition,
Portugal and Lithuania are important sending countries. Especially the increased importance of Lithuania
as sending country, within a very short period, is striking. In 2019, Lithuania was not yet in the top 10 of
sending countries. This while in 2021 one out of ten persons posted to Belgium came from Lithuania (we
will see that most of these persons are Ukrainians – see next subsection). In 2021, Lithuania shows an increase
of 12,400 posted persons compared to 2020 (from 14,994 persons to 27,376 persons), which implies an
increase of more than 80%.

Table 2. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by sending country, 2019-2021

2021 2020 2019
Top 10 Number % share Top 10 Number % share Top 10 Number % share
in total in total in total
The Netherlands 53,313 20.9% The Netherlands 55,096 22.8% The Netherlands 62,145 24.1%
Poland 51,342 20.2% Poland 42,789 17.7% Poland 43,110 16.7%
Lithuania 27,376 10.7% Germany 19,911 8.2% Germany 23,679 9.2%
Portugal 19,454 7.6% Portugal 18,684 7.7% Portugal 19,321 7.5%
Germany 18,291 7.2% France 16,986 7.0% France 18,107 7.0%
France 17,159 6.7% Lithuania 14,994 6.2% Romania 14,947 5.8%
Romania 14,843 5.8% Romania 13,840 5.7% Luxembourg 8,811 3.4%
Luxembourg 7,569 3.0% Luxembourg 8,162 3.4% Slovakia 7,439 2.9%
Slovenia 5,749 2.3% Bulgaria 6,022 2.5% United Kingdom 7,314 2.8%
Slovakia 5,435 2.1% Slovakia 5,811 2.4% Bulgaria 7,039 2.7%
Other 34,193 13.4% Other 39,073 16.2% Other 45,816 17.8%
Total 254,724 100% Total 241,368 100% Total 257,728 100%
Source LIMOSA database (business info applicable to broad group)

Over the past decade, EU-14 Member States have always been the largest group of ‘sending’ Members of
posted persons to Belgium. Nevertheless, the relative importance of posted persons from the EU-13
increased significantly (from some 25% in 2008 to 46% in 2021) (Figure 3). In that regard, it might be a
matter of time before most of the posted persons coming to Belgium will have an employer established in
an EU-13 Member State. In fact, this is already the case in various labour-intensive sectors of activity (for
instance in the Belgian construction sector). Furthermore, this is also the case when a distinction is made
between the status of the person posted to Belgium (Figure 4). Data for 2021 show that posted self-employed

28
persons are mostly coming from an EU-13 Member State. Almost half of the posted self-employed persons
visible in the LIMOSA-data come from Poland. Moreover, a large group of posted self-employed persons
originate from the Netherlands and Slovakia.
The number of posted persons from outside the EU is of little importance (some 3% in total for 2021).
These persons mainly come from the United Kingdom and India. However, based on data by nationality, it
will appear that many persons posted from another Member State to Belgium are third country nationals
(TCNs).

Figure 3. Share in number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by region of the sending country, 2020 vs 2021

2020 2021
Share in total number of persons reported in

60% 60%
54%
51%

Share in total number of persons reported in

50% 50% 46%
42%
40% 40%
LIMOSA

30% 30%

20% LIMOSA 20%

10% 10%
4% 3%

0% 0%
EU-14 EU-13 Extra-EU EU-14 EU-13 Extra-EU

Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

Figure 4. Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by sending country and status, 2021

Workers Self-employed
Share in total number of posted workers

Share in total number of self-employed

25% 60%
21.2% 49.6%
persons reported in LIMOSA

20% 50%
reported in LIMOSA

16.1%
40%
15% 12.2%
30%
10% 8.4% 7.9% 19.3%
7.4%
6.4% 20%
5% 3.3% 2.5% 9.6%
2.1% 10% 3.0% 3.0% 2.2% 2.1% 1.7% 1.6%
0% 0%

* Top 10 sending countries

Source LIMOSA database (business info applicable to broad group)

2.1.2.2 By nationality: an increasing number of third country nationals, mainly Ukrainians

Most of the persons posted to Belgium are Dutch nationals (some 45,000 persons)59 or Polish nationals
(some 39,000 persons)60 (Table 3). The breakdown by status shows that posted workers mainly have the
Dutch nationality while posted self-employed persons mainly have the Polish nationality. For instance,
almost half of the self-employed persons posted to Belgium are Polish. Also noteworthy are the high
number of Ukrainian posted workers. In 2021, their number (23,429 posted workers) exceeded that of
Polish posted workers (22,730). When adding up the groups of posted workers and posted self-employed

59 39,822 posted workers and 5,147 posted self-employed persons.

60 22,429 posted workers and 16,191 posted self-employed persons.

29
persons, it appears that about 17% of the persons posted to Belgium are of Dutch origin, 15% of Polish
origin and finally 9% of Ukrainian origin.

Table 3. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by nationality and status, 2021

Posted workers Self-employed persons
Top 10 Number % share in Top 10 Number % share in
column total column total
The Netherlands 39,822 17.7% Poland 16,191 48.8%
Ukraine 23,429 10.4% The Netherlands 5,147 15.5%
Poland 22,730 10.1% Slovakia 2,867 8.6%
Romania 20,635 9.2% Romania 1,096 3.3%
France 17,043 7.6% Ukraine 971 2.9%
Portugal 13,870 6.2% Czech Republic 854 2.6%
Germany 13,265 5.9% France 659 2.0%
Belarus 10,873 4.8% The United Kingdom 611 1.8%
Lithuania 5,791 2.6% Bulgaria 498 1.5%
Bulgaria 5,671 2.5% Germany 451 1.4%
Other nationalities 51,332 22.9% Other nationalities 3,845 11.6%
Total 224,461 100% Total 33,190 100%
Source LIMOSA database (business info applicable to broad group)

Approximately four out of ten of the persons posted to Belgium are nationals of an EU-14 Member State
and one third of an EU-13 Member State (Figure 5). In most cases there is a strong link between the sending
country and the nationality of the persons posted to Belgium. However, this link has recently become
blurred in some sending countries,61 largely due to the strong increase in the number of TCNs posted from
another Member State to Belgium.62
As far as TCNs are concerned, a distinction should be made between 1) those who are posted to Belgium
directly from a third country and 2) those who are posted to Belgium via an employer established in another
Member State. Figure 3 showed that the first situation is rather limited in scale. For instance, in 2021, only
42 persons were posted directly from Ukraine to Belgium. This while 24,400 Ukrainians (23,429 workers
and 971 self-employed) were posted to Belgium from another Member State (Table 3). Indeed, the reality is
completely different if we take a look at the nationality of intra-EU posted persons. In 2021, about one out
of four persons posted to Belgium are TCNs (Figure 5). This is an incredibly high percentage. Moreover, the
importance of the group of TCNs posted to Belgium increased over a very short period (see also Cillo,
2020; Lens et al., 2021a; Mussche & Lens, 2019).
The posted TCNs mainly concern Ukrainians (38% of the posted TCNs), Belarusians (17% of the posted
TCNs), Brazilians (8% of the posted TCNs) and Bosnians and Herzegovinians (4% of the posted TCNs).
The relative importance of the number of Ukrainians and Belarusians in the total number of posted workers
increased dramatically in a very short period. Both nationalities hardly appeared in the LIMOSA statistics
before 2018. In 2021, the number of posted Ukrainians increased by 75% compared to 2020 and the number
of posted Belarusians even by 125%. Moreover, the number of posted persons for both nationalities rose
sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic (+69% compared to 2019 for Ukrainians and +263% for
Belarusians). Due to these strong increase in both 2020 and 2021, Ukrainian posted workers represent 10%
and Belarusian posted workers 5% of the total number of posted workers in Belgium.

61 This is especially the case for Luxembourg. Most of the persons posted from Luxembourg are French, Belgian or Portuguese nationals. Only 3%
are nationals from Luxembourg.
62 The fact that TCNs can be mobile as posted workers across the EU was enabled by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Vander Elst case
of 1994 (Case C-43/93). The Court decided that TCNs who have a valid work and residence permit in one Member State are free to be posted
in any other Member State across the EU.

30
Figure 5. Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA, by nationality, by region, 2021 vs 2020

2020 2021
Share in total number of persons

50% 45% 41%

44%

Share in total number of persons

45% 40%
reported in LIMOSA

40% 36% 33%

35%

reported in LIMOSA
35% 30% 26%
30%
25%
25% 20% 20%
20%
15%
15%
10% 10%
5% 5%
0% 0%
EU-14 EU-13 TCNs EU-14 EU-13 TCNs

Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

Six main ‘routes’ of TCNs posted to Belgium can be identified (Table 4 and Figure 6). By far the most
important route is that of Ukrainians who are posted to Belgium from Poland. These persons are mainly
active in the construction and road transport sector. In addition, a lot of Ukrainians are posted from
Lithuania, who are mainly active in road transport. Both Poland and Lithuania are also important sending
Member States of posted Belarusians to Belgium. Finally, there is a route of posted Brazilians from Portugal
and of posted Bosnians and Herzegovinians from Slovenia to Belgium.
In 2021, roughly 12,500 Ukrainians were posted to Belgium by a Polish employer (or they are self-
employed) and 8,400 Ukrainians were posted to Belgium by a Lithuanian employer. Furthermore, some
7,200 Belarusians were posted to Belgium by a Lithuanian employer and 2,500 Belarusians were posted to
Belgium by a Polish employer. Finally, approximately 4,300 Brazilians were posted by a Portuguese
employer, mainly to the Belgian construction sector.

Table 4. Main mobility routes for posted TCNs to Belgium, 2021

Nationality Sending Number Share in total Share in total Main sector of activity
Member number of number of
State posted persons posted TCNs
Ukraine Poland 12,460 6% 22% Construction and road transport
Ukraine Lithuania 8,408 4% 15% Road transport
Belarus Lithuania 7,223 3% 13% Road transport
Brazil Portugal 4,308 2% 7% Construction
Belarus Poland 2,532 1% 4% Construction and road transport
Bosnia-Herzegovina Slovenia 2,125 1% 4% Construction and metal industry
Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

A stated before, the link between the sending country and the nationality of the persons posted to Belgium
has become blurred in several sending countries. This is the case for Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, and
Slovenia, among others, due to the high number of TCNs posted from these Member States (Figure 7). For
instance, more than eight out of ten persons posted from Lithuania to Belgium are not Lithuanians, but
Ukrainians and Belarusians. A similar situation occurs in Slovenia, where only 13% of the persons posted
to Belgium are Slovenians. Furthermore, 63% of the persons posted from Poland to Belgium are Polish. An
increasing number of persons posted from Poland to Belgium are Ukrainians. In 2021 posted TCNs with
the Ukrainian nationality accounted for 26% of the persons posted from Poland, while this was ‘only’ 16%
in 2020 and 13% in 2019. These figures give the impression that Ukrainians are gradually replacing Polish
nationals in the postings from Poland to Belgium. Indeed, there is a strong overrepresentation of this group:
Ukrainian nationals make up around 5% of the workforce in Poland, but more than five times as much of
the workforce which is posted from Poland to Belgium.

31
Figure 6. Main sending countries of posted TCNs reported in LIMOSA, 2021

Ukrainians Belarusians
Other Other
100% 100%
countries

Share in total number of Belarusians

Share in total number of Ukrainians

countries
90% 6% 90% Poland
1%
80% Lithuania 80% 26%
reported in LIMOSA

reported in LIMOSA
70% 38% 70%
60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40% Lithuania
30% Poland 30% 74%
56%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
Ukrainians Belarusians

Brazilians Bosnians and Herzegovinians

100% Other 100% Other

Share in total number of Bosnians and

Share in total number of Brazilians

Herzegovinians reported in LIMOSA

countries countries
90% 90% Croatia 9%
4% 7%
80% 80%
reported in LIMOSA

70% 70%
60% 60%
50% Portugal 50%
96% Slovenia
40% 40% 83%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
Brazilians Bosnians and Herzegovinians

Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

Figure 7. Main nationalities of persons posted from Member States with a high number of TCNs, 2021

From Poland From Lithuania

Other
100% nationalities 100% Other
Share in total number of persons from
Share in total number of persons from

90% 90% nationalities

5%
Lithuania reported in LIMOSA

15%
Poland reported in LIMOSA

80% Belarus Ukraine 80%

5% 26% Belarus
70% 70%
31%
60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40% Ukraine
Poland 36%
30% 63% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10% Lithuania
19%
0% 0%
Poland Lithuania

From Portugal From Slovenia

100% Other 100%
Share in total number of persons from
Share in total number of persons from

nationalities Other
90% 90%
nationalities
Portugal reported in LIMOSA

Slovenia reported in LIMOSA

15%
80% 80% 33%
Brazil
70% 24% 70%
Kosovo
60% 60%
15%
50% 50%
40% 40% Bosnia and
Portugal Herzegovina
30% 30%
61% 38%
20% 20%
10% 10% Slovenia
0% 0% 13%
Portugal Slovenia

Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

32
Finally, we can have a look at which nationalities are most common according to the sector of employment
(see Table 5 - selection of the main sectors of activity excluding ‘other sector’). Polish nationals are the main group of
posted persons in the construction sector, the metal industry, and the meat processing sector. In the
transport sector, mainly Ukrainians and Belarusians are employed. Dutch nationals are the main group of
posted persons in electrical installation and assembly works, the petrochemical industry, and cleaning.
Finally, the ICT sector mainly employs nationals from India.

Table 5. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, main sectors, by nationality, 2021

Construction Transport Metal industry Electrical installation and assembly
(n: 93,827) (n: 45,135) (n: 24,147) works (n: 11,274)
Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in
sector sector sector sector
Poland 21% Ukraine 29% Poland 18% The Netherlands 23%
The Netherlands 11% Belarus 19% France 14% France 18%
Portugal 8% The Netherlands 14% Portugal 11% Germany 9%
Ukraine 8% Romania 11% The Netherlands 10% Poland 8%
Romania 7% Poland 7% Germany 7% Portugal 7%
Petrochemical industry Meat processing ICT Cleaning
(n: 7,710) (n: 3,991) (n: 2,602) (n: 2,563)
Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in Top 5 Share in
sector sector sector sector
The Netherlands 32% Poland 34% India 62% The Netherlands 23%
Poland 19% Brazil 20% The Netherlands 11% France 15%
Romania 16% Romania 19% Germany 5% Poland 10%
France 6% Portugal 7% France 3% Brazil 9%
Germany 5% France 4% Portugal 3% Romania 8%
Source LIMOSA database (data applicable to narrow group)

Calculations from Constructiv based on LIMOSA data show that the posted workers employed in the
Belgian construction sector are mainly Dutch, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Polish, and Romanian nationals
(Table 6). Ukrainian posted workers represent 9.3% of the total number of posted workers active in the
Belgian construction sector. Their number even exceeds the number of Polish posted workers active in the
Belgian construction sector. Posted self-employed persons active in the Belgian construction sector are
mainly Polish nationals and, to a lesser extent, Dutch and Slovakian nationals.

Table 6. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA, Belgian construction, by nationality, 2021

Posted workers Self-employed
% in column % in column
Top 10 Number Top 10 Number
total total
The Netherlands 6,869 10.8% Poland 12,247 51.2%
Portugal 6,564 10.3% The Netherlands 2,429 10.1%
Ukraine 5,931 9.3% Slovakia 1,579 6.6%
Poland 5,761 9.1% Ukraine 733 3.1%
Romania 5,146 8.1% Romania 727 3.0%
Brazil 2,248 3.5% Czech Republic 429 1.8%
France 1,812 2.9% Bulgaria 337 1.4%
Bulgaria 1,593 2.5% Brazil 317 1.3%
Germany 1,536 2.4% Belgian 234 1.0%
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1,218 1.9% Spain 194 0.8%
Other nationalities 24,852 39.1% Other nationalities 4,714 19.7%
Total 63,530 100% Total 23,940 100%
Source Constructiv based on data from LIMOSA

33
2.1.2.3 By status: workers vs self-employed
In this section a distinction is made between the number of posted workers and the number of posted self-
employed persons. The monitoring of the evolution of the number of posted self-employed persons is of
great importance, not least because this group does not fall within the scope of the Posting of Workers
Directive. Consequently, there might be a chance that the Directive is circumvented by adopting the self-
employed status. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the data on posted self-employed workers is most
probably even less complete than the data on posted workers and such for Belgium in particular.63
About 13% of the persons reported in LIMOSA have the self-employed status. The share of self-
employed persons in the total group remained stable in recent years (Figure 8 – left graph). After the revised
Posting of Workers Directive entered into force (July 2020), there has been no increase in the number of
posted self-employed persons in Belgium, either in terms of numbers or their share in the total group of
posted persons.
What is striking is that a large group of persons from Poland and Slovakia are self-employed (Figure 8 –
right graph). This concerns 31% of the persons posted from Poland to Belgium and even 50% of the persons
posted from Slovakia64 to Belgium. This creates a remarkable reality for the postings from Poland to
Belgium: posted workers are mainly Ukrainians, while posted self-employed persons are mainly Polish
nationals.
Moreover, the percentage of posted self-employed workers in total appears to be much higher in the
Belgian construction sector. Almost three out of ten persons reported in LIMOSA and providing services
in the construction sector have a self-employed status.

Figure 8. Share of workers and self-employed reported in LIMOSA

100% By sending country

13% 13% 13%
Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA

16% 14% 14% 14%

Share in total number of persons reported in LIMOSA

90%
100% 1% 4% 2% 2% 4%
12%
80% 90%
31%
80%
70% 50%
70%
60% 60%
50% 99% 96% 98% 98% 96%
50% 88%
40%
84% 87% 87% 86% 86% 86% 87% 69%
40% 30%
50%
20%
30%
10%
20% 0%

10%

0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Workers Self-employed Workers Self-employed

Source LIMOSA database

2.1.2.4 The role of temporary employment agencies

In 2021, the percentage of posted workers sent through a private temporary employment agency was only
2% of the total group of incoming posted workers. This percentage is much lower than the percentages
reported in previous research (e.g., De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017). In 2015, for example, approximately
12% of the posted workers were employed by a foreign temporary employment agency. As mentioned

63 Since 2019, the LIMOSA reporting obligation for self-employed persons is limited to three ‘high risk sectors’ (i.e., the construction sector, the
meat processing industry, and the cleaning industry).
64 However, the overall share of the self-employed in Slovakia is only slightly above the EU average. For an explanation of the high share of self-
employed persons in total for Slovakia see Kováčová et al., 2021.
See also https://www.missoc.org/documents/self-employed/2021_07/self_2107_sk_en.pdf for more information about the self-employment
status in Slovakia.

34
earlier, since the end of 2017, the ‘accreditation number’ of the foreign temporary employment agency is
requested in LIMOSA. As a result, only agency workers posted by a foreign temporary employment agency
with an authorisation are still reported under this category. The fact that the number of reported posted
agency workers was much higher before 2018 seems to indicate that many of these ‘agency workers’ were
posted by foreign temporary employment agencies without an authorisation (see also input from Federgon).

2.1.2.5 By sector of employment

Data for 2021 shows that about one third of the persons declared in LIMOSA are temporarily employed in
the construction sector. In addition, 17% of the persons are reported under the sector ‘transport’ and 9%
under the sector ‘metal industry’. In contrast to other receiving Member States, posting seems to occur to a
lesser extent in the meat processing sector, the live-in care sector and in agriculture and horticulture. Above
distribution by sector should certainly be nuanced. As already mentioned in section 1.2.2., there are doubts
about the reliability of the figures by sector of activity reported in LIMOSA. Despite the possibility to report
activities in 17 specific sectors of activity, it appears that 25% of posted workers are reported under the
category ‘other sector’. In addition, various activities are exempt from a LIMOSA declaration, which means
that certain sectors are underrepresented. The breakdown by sector as shown based on the LIMOSA data
is therefore probably not similar to the breakdown by sector as it actually occurs for incoming postings to
Belgium.
Detailed data pictured in Figure 9 show that 8.9% of the posted workers have a Belgian client active in the
subsector ‘Construction of residential and non-residential buildings’ (NACE 412),65 6.7% of the clients are
active in the subsector ‘Building completion and finishing’ (NACE 433), 6.3% of the clients are active in
the subsector ‘Electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities’ (NACE 432) and finally
5.5% of the clients are active in the sector ‘Other specialised construction activities’ (NACE 439) (data for
2019). Several sectors also appear to be overrepresented compared to the breakdown for local companies
in Belgium. For instance, approximately 9% of the Belgian clients are active in the subsector ‘Construction
of residential and non-residential buildings’ (i.e., large construction sides) while ‘only’ 7.5% of all Belgian
companies are active in this sector. The same goes for the subsectors ‘Building completion and finishing’
(6.3% vs 3.4%) and ‘Electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities’ (6.3% vs 3.2%).

Figure 9. Main sectors of activity of workers posted to Belgium, share in total, 2019
10%
8.9%
9%
Share in total number of incoming posted wokrers

8%

7% 6.7%
6.3%
6% 5.5%

5%

4%
3.2%
2.7%
3%
2.1% 2.0% 2.0% 1.9%
2%

1%

0%
Construction of Building Electrical, Other specialised Wholesale of other Other specialised Architectural and Freight transport Computer Manufacture of
residential and completion and plumbing and construction machinery, wholesale engineering by road and programming, structural metal
non-residential finishing other construction activities equipment and activities and removal services consultancy and products
buildings installation supplies related technical related activities
activities consultancy

Source CBSS - Crossroads Bank for Social Security

65 Similar results were reported in a study of 2017 (De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017). In this study, the company number of the Belgian client
registered in LIMOSA, which has enlisted the services of posted workers employed in the construction sector, was linked to the Bel-first database
(a database with the financial accounts of all private firms in Belgium).

35
Focus on the Belgian construction sector
In 2021, the Belgian construction sector received 87,470 posted workers and self-employed, of which 63,530
posted workers66 (73% of total) and 23,940 self-employed persons (27% of total) (calculations from
Constructiv based on LIMOSA data). Consequently, roughly one out of three persons posted to Belgium is
active in the construction sector. Above figures might be a (strong) underestimation of the real situation,
mainly due to the changes made in the LIMOSA declaration since the end of 2017.67 After all, in 2015,
roughly 131,000 posted persons active in the construction sector were registered in LIMOSA. Moreover,
between 2013 and 2016, the proportion of posted persons in the construction sector fluctuated between
50% and 60% of the total number of posted persons to Belgium.
Furthermore, figures from the Balance of Payments (BoP) on the import of services in the Belgian
construction sector give an indication of the inflow of persons posted to Belgium (cf. Table 7). Most of the
services imported by the Belgian construction industry come from the neighbouring countries the
Netherlands, France, and Germany. In addition, a large part of the services is imported from Poland and
Portugal. These Member States are also important sending Member States of posted workers to the Belgian
construction sector. The percentage share of Poland in total is much lower in the figures on the export of
services than in the figures on incoming posted workers. This is an indicator that the cost charged/paid for
posted workers coming from Poland is significantly lower compared to those coming from the Netherlands,
France, and Germany (see also De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017). The importance of Germany in the total
volume of import of services to the Belgian construction sector decreased between 2011 and 2019, while
the importance of both Portugal and Poland increased over the same period. Imports of services from the
Netherlands experienced a very sharp increase in 2017. In the years that followed (2018 and 2019), the
import from the Netherlands returned to its previous levels. Therefore, the overall level of services imported
in 2017 should be considered an outlier compared to other years.
When the import of services to the Belgian construction sector is added to personnel costs for local
employment, the expenditure for posting can be compared with the total personnel cost. This goes without
saying that the total amount paid for imported services does not only include personnel costs for the posted
workers but also additional costs (such as transport costs, accommodation and administrative costs), taxes
(e.g., VAT) as well as the profit the posting undertaking wants to make on exporting services via posting.
In 2019, expenditure for imported services accounted for 11% of total personnel costs in the Belgian
construction sector. The import of services can also be compared with the added value since not only
personnel costs are taken into account but also the gross operating surplus of companies and the income of
self-employed persons. In 2019, expenditure for importing services accounted for 7% of the added value in
the Belgian construction sector.
As mentioned before, imported services are sometimes referred to as a source of ‘leakage’ because they
have the effect of transferring income that was earned in one country to another country. In case of intra-
EU posting, funds are used to import services from posting undertakings, resulting in an outflow of money.
This risk clearly occurs in the Belgian construction sector. For instance, in the recovery and resilience plan
that Belgium submitted to the European Commission in the framework of the Recovery and Resilience
Facility,68 a lot of money is going to renovation and infrastructure projects that benefit the Belgian
construction sector. According to the Federal Planning Bureau’s projections (2021) the implementation of
the plan is expected to create a moderate number of additional jobs over the period 2021-2026. This positive
impact would in particular come from the construction sector, reflecting the large share of investments in
the plan dedicated to construction and renovation of buildings and dwellings. However, given the large

66 Employed by some 7,625 posting undertakings. About nine out of ten posted workers are employed by one employer.
67 See Chapter 1 of the report. For activities in the construction sector (Joint Committee No. 124) it is asked whether the employer pays a premium
that is comparable to the premium ‘loyalty stamps’ in Belgium. There is a real chance that posting undertakings avoid this question by reporting
their activities under the category ‘other sector’. Consequently, there are doubts about the reliability of the figures on the number of posted
workers in the Belgian construction sector.
68 See https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-facility/belgiums-recovery-and-
resilience-plan_en

36
presence of foreign companies and workers by the posting of workers, the Belgian recovery plan will not
only benefit the Belgian economy, but also foreign employment and consumption.

Table 7. Import of services in the Belgian construction sector, 2011-2019

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Import of services (in million €) (A)
Germany 342 183 206 248 210 274 250 299 173
France 108 110 133 173 181 179 201 199 188
The Netherlands 350 266 398 367 430 375 816 499 311
Poland 59 73 79 76 84 95 106 111 113
Portugal 32 38 65 87 71 73 101 124 107
Other Member States 135 134 222 388 481 381 334 417 582
EU-28 1,026 804 1,103 1,339 1,457 1,377 1,808 1,649 1,474
% share in total EU-28
Germany 33% 23% 19% 19% 14% 20% 14% 18% 12%
France 11% 14% 12% 13% 12% 13% 11% 12% 13%
The Netherlands 34% 33% 36% 27% 30% 27% 45% 30% 21%
Poland 6% 9% 7% 6% 6% 7% 6% 7% 8%
Portugal 3% 5% 6% 6% 5% 5% 6% 8% 7%
Other Member States 13% 17% 20% 29% 33% 28% 18% 25% 39%
EU-28 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
% change compared to previous year
Germany -46% 13% 20% -15% 30% -9% 20% -42%
France 2% 21% 30% 5% -1% 12% -1% -6%
The Netherlands -24% 50% -8% 17% -13% 118% -39% -38%
Poland 24% 8% -4% 11% 13% 12% 5% 2%
Portugal 19% 71% 34% -18% 3% 38% 23% -14%
Other Member States -1% 66% 75% 24% -21% -12% 25% 40%
EU-28 -22% 37% 21% 9% -5% 31% -9% -11%
EU-28 excl. NL -20% 31% 38% 6% -2% -1% 16% 1%
Import of services (in million €) (A) compared to other variables
Personnel cost
9,538 9,885 9,595 9,837 9,960 10,100 10,629 10,825 11,385
(in million €) (B)
Share of imports of
services in the reporting
economy in total 10% 8% 10% 12% 13% 12% 15% 13% 11%
personnel costs
(A/(A+B))
Value added
15,992 15,687 15,712 16,518 16,427 16,723 18,249 18,298 20,201
(in million €) (C)
Share of imports of
services in the reporting
6% 5% 7% 7% 8% 8% 9% 8% 7%
economy in total added
value (A/(A+C))
* Construction in the reporting economy’ (251): Consists of construction services provided by non-resident construction
firms to residents of the reporting economy
Source Eurostat - [bop_its6_det] and [sbs_na_con_r2]

Finally, the exemption from payment of wage withholding tax for shift work in the construction and related
sectors,69 together with the so-called ‘tax shift’,70 undoubtedly represents a sizeable tax break for the
69 The wage withholding tax exemption amounted to 3% of taxable remuneration in 2018 and 6% of taxable remuneration in 2019. In 2020, the
measure was ‘at full speed’ as the exemption amounted to 18% of taxable remuneration.
70 This includes a reduction in employer contributions from 33 to 25%.

37
construction sector. The question arises as to what extent these measures had an impact on the evolution
of the number of incoming posted workers in the construction sector. Due to doubts about the reliability
of the LIMOSA data for the construction sector, as of 2018, it is not possible to make any conclusions
about the impact.

2.1.2.6 By average duration

By dividing the number of reported days in LIMOSA by the number of reported persons, an estimate can
be made of the average duration of the services provided in Belgium. Note that the reported duration in
LIMOSA is not necessarily the same as the actual duration of posting as a notification only reflects the
intention to send persons to Belgium. The average duration of the posting period per person based on these
data amounted to 170 days in 2021 (Table 8). The average reported duration per person increased by about
two weeks between 2016 and 2021. In addition, the average reported duration for posted self-employed
persons (172 days in 2021) tends to be somewhat higher than for posted workers (168 days in 2021).
About one out of three postings to Belgium are reported to last less than eight days (based on figures for
2020) (Table 9). This high percentage of short-term postings is surprising given that many short-term
activities are exempt from a LIMOSA declaration. If these activities were not exempt, the percentage of
postings shorter than eight days would even be much higher. Approximately three out of four postings
concern a period of less than 6 months. A little more than one out of ten postings to Belgium are longer
than one year.
Figures specific to the Belgian construction sector show that more than three out of ten postings of
workers involve a period of less than one week (data 2021) (Table 10). In addition, about 18% of the postings
concern a period of more than four months. The posting period of self-employed persons to the Belgian
construction sector is probably somewhat higher. It appears that 28% of the postings for this group relate
to a period of more than four months.

Table 8. Average period reported in LIMOSA - in days, 2016-2021

Workers Self-employed Total
Number of Number of Average Number of Number of Average Number of Number of Average
persons days (days) persons days (days) persons days (days)
reported reported reported reported reported reported
2016 204,614 31,558,929 154 29,884 4,932,503 165 231,168 36,263,503 157
2017 215,732 33,365,455 155 31,785 5,183,242 163 244,144 38,353,317 157
2018 218,017 35,406,822 162 34,983 5,750,873 164 249,755 40,946,747 164
2019 224,638 35,687,332 159 36,747 6,078,717 165 257,728 41,561,864 161
2020 210,628 34,729,528 165 33,822 5,888,830 174 241,368 40,418,379 167
2021 224,461 37,788,571 168 33,190 5,720,010 172 254,724 43,317,743 170
Source LIMOSA database

Table 9. Average duration of the posting period reported in LIMOSA, 2020

% share in total
Less than 8 days 32%
Between 8 days and 1 month 17%
Between 1 month and 6 months 28%
Between 6 months and 12 months 9%
Between 12 months and 18 months 11%
Longer than 18 months 2%
Source LIMOSA database

38
Table 10. Average duration of the posting period reported in LIMOSA, Belgian construction sector, 2021
Posted workers Posted self-employed persons
1 to 7 days 33.5% 27.8%
8 to 14 days 7.1% 7.1%
15 to 29 days 11.7% 10.6%
30 to 60 days 14.0% 13.0%
61 to 120 days 15.8% 13.7%
Longer than 120 days 17.9% 27.8%
100% 100%
Source Data from Constructiv based on LIMOSA data

2.1.2.7 By type of client

Large Belgian companies in particular seem to make use of the services of posted workers. Employment is
much higher in the Belgian companies that make use of intra-EU posting compared to companies that do
not (Table 11). Furthermore, wages are 20% higher in the Belgian companies that rely on posted workers
compared to firms that do not. The fact that mainly large Belgian companies make use of the services of
posted workers had already been observed in a previous study (De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017), which
focussed on the construction sector. Of the 100 Belgian largest construction companies, 7 out of 10 relied
on posted workers. Smaller Belgian construction companies used intra-EU posting much less. As such,
Belgian SMEs make less use of the services provided by companies established abroad. Thus, the
competition is mainly between (subcontracting) local SMEs and (subcontracting) posting undertakings, and
it are the larger local companies which will benefit from this competition.

Table 11. Profile of Belgian clients with posted workers compared to the profile of non-users, 2019

User of posted workers Non-user of posted A/B

(A) workers (B)
Mean employment* 102 10 10.2
Median employment 13 2 6.5
Mean FTE employment** 72 20 3.6
Median FTE employment 13 6 2.2
Mean average daily wage (euro) 125 103 1.2
Median daily wage (euro) 117 95 1.2
* Number of employees at the end of fiscal year
** Number of employees in full time equivalent
Source CBSS - Crossroads Bank for Social Security

The average number of foreign service suppliers per Belgian client doubled between 2010 and 2019. In
2010, Belgian clients had on average 1.8 service foreign suppliers per year (Figure 10). In 2019, Belgian clients
had on average 3.7 foreign service suppliers per year.
The graph at the right-hand side of Figure 10 shows the relationship between the average number of
posting undertakings per Belgian client and the number of years a Belgian client uses posted workers. The
graph shows an increasing evolution over time: the longer a Belgian client is using posted workers the more
‘diversified’ its pool of suppliers.

39
Figure 10. Average number of posting undertakings per Belgian client, 2010 - 2019

4.0 3.7
undertakings per Belgian client

3.5
Average number of posting

2.9 2.9 3.0

3.0 2.6
2.5 2.2 2.3
2.0 1.8 1.9 1.9

1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0

Source CBSS - Crossroads Bank for Social Security

Replacement of local workers by posted workers?

Previous research (De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017) identified replacement effects, read a negative trend in
local employment and an increase in the number of incoming posted workers, in the Belgian construction
sector between 2010 and 2015. During this period, there was a negative correlation between the evolution
of investments in (residential) construction and the evolution of local employment of workers. This while
there was a positive correlation between the evolution of investments in (residential) construction and the
evolution of posted workers. However, displacement effects did not appear for every activity in the
construction sector, and mainly occur(ed) in the ‘Construction of buildings; development of building
projects’ (NACE 41) (i.e., activities at large construction sites) and ‘Plastering’ (NACE 43.31) sub-sectors.
Figure 11 shows that the share of blue-collar workers employed by Belgian companies using posting
services decreased from 58% to 54% between 2009 and 2019.71 At the same time, the share of posted
workers in total workforce active in these companies increased from 5% to 16% between 2010 and 2019.
Furthermore, Muñoz (2021) found that the employment of ‘Belgian’ workers decreased in Belgian
companies that make use of the services of posted workers. Local employment decreased in these companies
by 2% the year they started subcontracting services to posted workers.

Figure 11. Share of local blue-collar workers in total employment (incl. posted workers) at Belgian
clients, 2008-2019

Source CBSS - Crossroads Bank for Social Security

71 However, some methodological remarks should be made. First, there a risk that these percentages are influenced by Belgian clients that fall
out of the reference group (or come in). For instance, a Belgian client that made use of posted workers in 2017 but no longer in 2018. Ideally
only the group of clients that have always made use of posted workers between 2010 and 2019 was selected. Second, the evolution may also
be influenced by the evolution of the number of white-collar workers.

40
2.1.2.8 By wage level
In principle, posted workers are entitled to the same ‘remuneration’ as local workers (instead of equal
‘minimum rates of pay’ as provided for under the previous version of the Posting of Workers Directive).
Of course, this principle does not apply when the remuneration in the ‘sending’ Member State is higher
compared to that of the ‘receiving Member State. Figure 12 shows by how much the gross wage has to be
multiplied when persons are posted to Belgium. This exercise was carried out by comparing the minimum
wage applicable in Belgium with the minimum wage applicable in the sending Member State (1.0 = minimum
wage in Belgium is equal to the minimum wage in the sending Member State). The same is done for the
median gross earnings. Ideally, this exercise could be made by taking into account the applicable sectoral
collective agreements and all components of the remuneration. The calculations in Figure 12 are therefore a
simplification of by how much the wage (i.e., remuneration) of the posted worker will have to be multiplied
if (s)he is temporarily employed in Belgium. For example, the minimum wage will have to be multiplied by
5.2 if a worker is posted from Bulgaria to Belgium. For a limited number of sending Member States, wages
will stay the same when workers are posted to Belgium (i.e., multiplied by a figure lower than 1). This will
be the case in all Member States with higher (minimum) wages (such as the Nordic countries and the
neighbouring countries of Belgium). It is estimated that about seven out of ten workers sent to Belgium will
receive a higher wage for their activities in Belgium compared to their wages in the sending state.

Figure 12. Posting of workers from MS X to Belgium. By how much should the gross wage be multiplied?
(estimate), 2020

8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Latvia
Denmark

Finland

France

Italy

Hungary
Romania
Ireland

Netherlands

Austria

Cyprus
Luxembourg

Germany

Spain

Slovenia
Greece

Slovak Republic

Poland

Bulgaria
Malta

Estonia
Czech Republic

Lithuania
Portugal
Sweden

Croatia

Minimum wage Median gross earnings

Source Eurostat [earn_ses_pub2s]

Next, an estimate is made of the total amount of gross wages that posted persons will receive in Belgium.72
These amounts are compared to the gross wages that they should receive in their country of origin.
It is estimated that the gross wages for the persons posted to Belgium amounted to around € 2 billion in
2020 (Table 12). If they had not been posted but had been employed in their country of origin, their wages
would have been approximately € 700 million lower. Consequently, their wages have increased by about
50% (at least in theory).
At the same time, the Belgian state does not receive a considerable amount of labour tax revenues because
social security contributions for incoming posted workers have to be paid in the sending Member State and
not in Belgium. It is estimated that this amounts to more than € 750 million.73 Still this is ‘only’ about 1%
of the annual sum of labour tax revenues received by the Belgian State from social security contributions.74

72 Including posted self-employed persons. It is therefore assumed that they will charge an amount that is comparable to the Belgian minimum
wage. Which, of course, is not necessarily the case in practice.
73 By taking into account an employee social security contribution rate of 13.07% and an employer social security contribution rate of 24.9%.
74 Based on ESSPROS data. In 2019, receipts from social contributions amounted to € 82.4 billion in Belgium.

41
Table 12. Estimated increase of the gross wages for persons posted to Belgium, in €, 2020
Number
Wage at the
of Wage at the
Minimum Duration level of the %
incoming level of Difference**
wage (in days) sending increase**
posted Belgium**
Member State
persons
Belgium 1,626
Bulgaria 312 5,620 196 11,078,947 57,748,773 46,669,827 421%
Czech Republic 546 3,145 149 8,267,074 24,615,289 16,348,215 198%
Denmark* 3,107 891 164 14,684,484 14,684,484 0 0%
Germany 1,544 19,481 95 92,299,473 97,184,650 4,885,177 5%
Estonia 584 155 102 297,199 827,334 530,135 178%
Ireland 1,707 438 212 5,114,258 5,114,258 0 0%
Greece 758 492 161 1,940,273 4,159,588 2,219,315 114%
Spain 1,108 3,416 147 17,972,465 26,362,361 8,389,896 47%
France 1,539 16,435 131 106,937,846 112,932,790 5,994,944 6%
Croatia 546 1,743 153 4,683,413 13,943,119 9,259,705 198%
Italy* 1,611 4,406 134 30,786,782 31,068,086 281,304 1%
Cyprus* 886 281 130 1,047,166 1,921,444 874,277 83%
Latvia 430 591 116 948,289 3,585,237 2,636,948 278%
Lithuania 607 14,704 175 50,302,286 134,723,941 84,421,655 168%
Luxembourg 2,142 7,951 124 67,984,690 67,984,690 0 0%
Hungary 452 2,171 183 5,796,529 20,871,151 15,074,622 260%
Malta 777 25 94 58,909 123,240 64,331 109%
Netherlands 1,680 53,927 198 579,898,823 579,898,823 0 0%
Austria* 1,852 739 106 4,684,485 4,684,485 0 0%
Poland 583 41,737 182 142,785,254 397,835,133 255,049,879 179%
Portugal 741 18,029 175 75,288,283 165,216,942 89,928,659 119%
Romania 461 13,074 202 39,323,881 138,745,185 99,421,305 253%
Slovenia 941 4,917 177 26,396,689 45,604,278 19,207,589 73%
Slovak Republic 580 5,624 184 19,390,242 54,350,180 34,959,938 180%
Finland* 2,381 247 94 1,782,601 1,782,601 0 0%
Sweden* 2,665 314 169 4,562,824 4,562,824 0 0%
1,314,313,164 2,010,530,884 696,217,720 53%
* DK, IT, CY, AT, FI and SE do not have a national minimum wage. First decile monthly earnings (not median wage as in
previous figure) are used for these Member States.
** Wage level of sending Member State is taken into account if it is higher than the wage level in Belgium.
Source LIMOSA database and Eurostat

2.2 From Belgium to other EU Member States

This section quantifies the number of persons posted from Belgium and describes their profile in detail (by
sending country, citizenship, and status) mainly based on data for 2020 from the Portable Document A1.
The mapping of postings from Belgium is certainly relevant, even though the flows are (much) lower than
those for incoming postings. The section focuses mainly on the PDs A1 issued under Article 12 BR (i.e.,
postings). Although, from a labour law perspective, persons with a PD A1 issued under Article 13 BR (i.e.,
working in two or more Member States) can also be ‘posted’ to another Member State.

2.2.1 Measuring the flow of posted workers from Belgium

In 2020, approximately 123,800 PDs A1 were issued, half of which were granted under Article 12 BR
(60,803) (Table 13). About nine out of ten PDs A1 under Article 12 BR are issued to workers (54,406) and
one out of ten PDs A1 to self-employed persons. The number of PDs A1 issued under Article 12 BR is

42
thus much lower than those issued by other Member States to carry out temporary activities in Belgium.
Indeed, in 2020, approximately 169,000 PDs A1 were issued under Article 12 BR to posted workers and
self-employed persons who were temporarily sent to Belgium (De Wispelaere et al., 2022).

Table 13. Total number of Portable A1 documents issued by the Belgian authorities, 2020

Number of PDs A1 issued % in total

Article 12 - posting 60,803 49%
Posted workers 54,406 44%
Posted self-employed 6,397 5%
Article 13 - working in two or more States 61,792 50%
Employed, working in two or more States 54,268 44%
Other situation 7,524 6%
Other categories 1,244 1%
Total 123,839 100%
Source WABRO database

In order to assess the importance of postings from Belgium to other Member States, it is best to look at the
number of persons with a PD A1 and thus not at the raw number of certificates issued (Table 14). In 2020,
approximately 25,500 workers with a PD A1 issued under Article 12 BR were posted to another Member
State, this on average twice a year. The number of known outgoing posted workers thus appears to be much
lower than the number of incoming posted workers. This becomes even clearer when looking at the number
of workers with a PD A1 issued under Article 12 BR who were abroad at a specific moment of the year. In
each case, it concerns only around 1,400 posted workers, which shows that the period that posted workers
stay abroad is also of a (very) short duration.

Table 14. Different concepts to measure the number of outgoing posted workers, 2020

Total PDs A1
Number of PDs A1 123,839
Number of persons involved 70,445
5 March 47,163
4 June 45,574
3 September 47,664
3 December 48,550
Issued to posted workers (Article 12.1)
Number of PDs A1 54,406
Number of persons involved 25,481
PDs A1 issued per posted worker 2.1
5 March 1,482
4 June 1,362
3 September 1,364
3 December 1,403
Source WABRO database

Another data source that can be used as a proxy for measuring the outflow of posted workers are tourism
statistics on persons travelling abroad for business or professional purposes. Between 2017 and 2020, there
were approximately 900,000 trips for business and professional purposes from Belgium to another Member

43
State, mostly to the neighbouring countries France (29%), the Netherlands (16%), and Germany (16%).75
This figure seems to indicate that the number of outgoing posted persons to Belgium based on the WABRO
database is a strong underestimation of reality. In practice, authorities are not always informed about
outgoing transnational activities. Consequently, there might be a discrepancy between the number of PDs
A1 issued by the competent administrations in Belgium and the actual scale of persons providing services
abroad. Finally, this data source also confirms that the inflow of posted persons is much higher than the
outflow. Between 2017 and 2020, there were approximately 2 million trips for business and professional
purposes from another Member State (mainly from the Netherlands and France) to Belgium.

2.2.2 Characteristics of posted workers from Belgium

The following analysis of the profile of outgoing postings shows that this profile differs from that of
incoming postings, both in terms of flows between Belgium and other Member States as well as in terms of
sectors of activity concerned. It shows that posting is more than providing cheap labour in price-sensitive
sectors of activity.

2.2.2.1 By receiving country

Workers are mainly posted by their Belgian employer to neighbouring countries France (33%), the
Netherlands (31%), Luxembourg (14%) and Germany (9%) (Figure 13). Workers sent to these four countries
account for 87% of those posted from Belgium to another Member State. This profile strongly differs from
that of incoming posting as ‘only’ some four out of ten incoming posted workers are from a neighbouring
country.

Figure 13. Main receiving countries of posted workers from Belgium, 2020

40%

33%
Share in total number of outgoing posted

35%
31%
30%

25%
workers

20%
14%
15% 13%
9%
10%

5%

0%
France The Netherlands Luxembourg Germany Other countries

Source WABRO database

2.2.2.2 By sector of activity

The breakdown by sector of employment is based on data for 2019. After all, 2020 was an atypical year and
no data are available yet for 2021. The sectors of activity in which outgoing posted workers are employed
are very diverse (and atypical) (Figure 14). A large group of outgoing posted workers is employed via Belgian
temporary work agencies. This concerned approximately one out of four outgoing posted workers in 2019.
The sectors in which these posted agency workers operate are not known. Furthermore, almost 15% of the
outgoing posted workers are active in the live performance sector. One of the reasons for using data for
2019 is precisely because of the importance of this sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic, activity in this

75 Based on Eurostat data [tour_dem_ttw]

44
sector fell sharply. In addition, posted workers from Belgium are active in the construction sector (of
neighbouring countries), more specifically in following activities: building completion and finishing;
electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities; other specialised construction activities.
Therefore, it is certainly not the case that posting in the construction sector is a reality only from a receiving
perspective. Finally, a large group of outgoing posted workers is active in other (sub)sectors.

Figure 14. Main sectors of activity of posted workers from Belgium, 2019

50%
Share in total number of outgoing posted workers

45%
45%

40%

35%

30%
25%
25%
20%
14%
15%

10%
4% 4% 3%
5% 3% 2%

0%
Temporary Creative, arts Building Electrical, Other specialised Construction of Motion picture, Other sectors
employment and completion and plumbing and construction residential and video and
agency activities entertainment finishing other activities non-residential television
activities construction buildings programme
installation activities
activities

Source WABRO database

2.2.2.3 By duration
The period persons can pursue an activity under Article 12 BR is set at a maximum of 24 months. This does
not necessarily imply that this is also the real duration. The average duration applicable to the PDs A1 issued
by the competent Belgian administration under Article 12 BR amounted to 42 days in 2020 (De Wispelaere
et al., 2022).
The majority of the PDs A1 issued under Article 12 BR applies to a period of less than a month, even a
week. The posting period in the live performance sector is even limited to only a few days. In Table 15, data
for 2019 shows that 28% of the transnational activities in the live performance sector is limited to one day
and almost 90% of the transnational activities is limited to one week.

Table 15. Number of PDs A1 issued according to Article 12 BR for activities in the live performance
sector, by duration, Belgium, 2019

Duration %
1 day 28%
More than 1 day and less than 8 days 59%
Between 8 and 14 days 8%
Between 15 and 31 days 3%
Between 1 and 6 months 2%
Between 6 and 12 months 0%
Longer than 12 months 0%
Total 100%
Source De Wispelaere et al., 2021 based on data received from the NSSO.

45
2.2.3 Retroactive request for a Portable Document A1
The current legal framework provides that the employer or the person concerned (i.e., the posted self-
employed person) must inform the competent authorities about their planned transnational activities,
whenever possible before these activities take place.76 Consequently, in some/several cases, a posting may
take place without the institutions being informed.77 Moreover, in some/several cases the PD A1 is awarded
with retroactive effect.78 In that case, a request for a PD A1 is made during or even after the posting activities
took place. Recently, some Member States such as France and Austria seem to be much stricter in their
judgment of having a PD A1 as a condition for being ‘legally’ posted to their territory. They implemented
sanctions in case of failure to show a PD A1 and/or are currently carrying out far more inspections on
having a PD A1. As there are often high administrative sanctions if no proof can be delivered, it might be
an incentive for posting undertakings to ask for a PD A1. Consequently, such measures may have an impact
on the number of requested PDs A1 in advance but also retroactively.
The number of postings that have taken place without a PD A1 or for which a PD A1 was applied for
retroactively is unknown. The added value of having such data became clear during the negotiations on the
revision of the Coordination Regulations. In the provisional agreements among Council of Ministers,
European Parliament, and European Commission (in that of 25 March 2019: Document 7698/19 ADD1
REV1 of 25 March 2019,79and in that of 17 December 2021: Document 15068/21 of 17 December 202180) it was
agreed that the employer or the posted self-employed person should inform the competent institution ‘in
advance’ (i.e., ‘a mandatory prior notification’), except for ‘business trips’81,82. It is rather unclear what the
impact will be of such a provision on both posting undertakings and the competent institutions.
Table 16 sheds light on the number of PDs A1 granted retroactively by the NSSO on the basis of
Article 12 BR. On average, between 2017 and 2020, about 23% of PDs A1 under Article 12 BR were not
granted in advance. The percentage of PDs A1 granted retroactively is stable over this period. The fact that
the percentage of PDs A1 granted retroactively is so high is somewhat surprising, as the application
procedure for the PD A1 in Belgium being relatively easy, certainly in comparison with other Member States.
Furthermore, given the enforcement policy in Austria and France (cf. supra), a higher percentage of PDs A1
issued retroactively was expected for both countries. This does not appear to be the case on the basis of the
data. Indeed, the percentage of PDs A1 issued retroactively does not seem to vary greatly depending on the
Member State to which the worker was posted.

Table 16. Number and percentage of PDs A1 granted retroactively on the basis of Art. 12 BR, 2017-2020

2017 2018 2019 2020

Total number of PDs A1 issued under Art. 12(1) BR (A) 72,787 72,451 77,740 54,338
Number of PDs A1 issued retroactively under Art. 12(1) BR (B) 17,168 17,259 16,907 12,643
Share (B/A) 24% 24% 22% 23%
Source Based on data received from the NSSO.

76 This obligation is defined by Article 15 (1) of the Implementing Regulation.

77 Moreover, requesting a certificate is not a condition of being posted (see Alperind GmbH and Others (C-527/16: paras 70–72).
78 See Case C-178/97 Barry Banks and Others. In Alperind GmbH and Others (C-527/16), the CJEU confirms the binding and retroactive effect of
the PD A1 (par. 77): “Having regard to the foregoing considerations, the answer to the second part of the second question is that Article 5(1)
of Regulation No 987/2009, read together with Article 19(2) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that an A1 certificate issued by the
competent institution of a Member State under Article 12(1) of Regulation No 883/2004, is binding on both the social security institutions of the
Member State in which the activity is carried out and the courts of that Member State, if appropriate with retroactive effect, even though that
certificate was issued only after that Member State determined that the worker concerned was subject to compulsory insurance under its
legislation”.
79 See https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7698-2019-ADD-1-REV-1/en/pdf
80 See https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15068-2021-INIT/en/pdf
81 Defined in the provisional agreement of 25 March 2019 as “a temporary working activity of short duration organised at short notice, or another
temporary activity related to the business interests of the employer and not including the provision of services or the delivery of goods, such
as attending internal and external business meetings, attending conferences and seminars, negotiating business deals, exploring business
opportunities, or attending and receiving training".
82 And for exceptional cases, where it was not possible to notify before the start of the activity abroad (see provisional agreement of 17
December 2021).

46
2.3 Measuring the importance of intra-EU posting in total employment in Belgium
The place of establishment of the employer is decisive for counting total employment (as determined in the
‘system of national accounts – SNA 2008’83, and the ‘European system of national and regional accounts -
ESA 2010’84). Consequently, employment in a country as defined by the ‘domestic concept’85 includes (only)
those persons who were paid during the reference period by an employer established in that country. As a
result, employment provided by (non-)resident workers on behalf of non-resident employer, and thus
covering labour mobility by the freedom to provide services, is currently not taken into account. It has been
argued that labour mobility by the provision of cross-border services also needs to be taken into account
when calculating the employment of a country (De Wispelaere et al., 2020). That this is a relevant exercise
is shown in below analysis, both for the Belgian economy and the Belgian construction sector.

2.3.1 For the Belgian economy

The calculation takes into account the number of posted workers reported in LIMOSA who were active in
Belgium at a certain moment of the year (some 119,000 workers in 2021), and thus not the total group of
posted workers reported in LIMOSA (some 224,500 workers in 2021). The group of incoming posted
workers amounts to approximately 2.8% of the total group of workers employed in Belgium (Table 17). This
is 0.2 percentage points higher compared to 2020. Monthly fluctuations are between 2.3% of the total group
of workers employed in Belgium in January to (more) than 3.0% in October to December. The importance
of incoming posted workers in total employment in Belgium appears to be stable. Even during the
COVID-19 pandemic (data 2020) the share of incoming posted workers was still 2.7% of total employment
in Belgium. By subtracting the average number of outgoing posted workers from the average number of
incoming posted workers, we can even obtain an estimate of the net number of posted workers. The net
number of posted workers amounts to some 117,500 workers as the number of outgoing posted workers
at a specific time in year is very low (to some 1,400 posted workers). As a result, the net number of posted
workers accounts for 2.8% of total employment in Belgium.

Table 17. Share of posted workers in total employment in Belgium, 2019-2021, by month
Employment (domestic concept) Posted workers
Share in total employment (B/(A+B))
(excl. self-employed) (A) (excl. self-employed) (B)
2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021
January 4,032,200 4,082,400 4,055,998 97,877 99,342 96,210 2.4% 2.4% 2.3%
February 4,038,100 4,090,700 4,053,902 104,289 103,531 102,214 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%
March 4,048,900 4,093,100 4,065,732 109,796 105,730 110,462 2.6% 2.5% 2.6%
April 4,058,500 4,028,600 4,071,669 111,514 97,594 112,943 2.7% 2.4% 2.7%
May 4,064,700 4,014,800 4,086,686 115,794 102,071 116,174 2.8% 2.5% 2.8%
June 4,075,400 4,021,200 4,101,287 116,890 109,512 120,471 2.8% 2.7% 2.9%
July 4,030,200 3,996,900 4,062,751 116,863 110,693 119,607 2.8% 2.7% 2.9%
August 3,963,500 3,945,400 4,106,915 115,058 111,128 120,172 2.8% 2.7% 2.8%
September 4,059,900 4,033,300 4,100,090 120,281 117,563 130,643 2.9% 2.8% 3.1%
October 4,104,800 4,076,100 4,157,943 122,102 121,507 133,470 2.9% 2.9% 3.1%
November 4,113,500 4,079,800 4,169,200 122,189 121,211 133,784 2.9% 2.9% 3.1%
December 4,127,700 4,085,884 4,180,897 117,685 116,659 130,966 2.8% 2.8% 3.0%
Average 4,059,783 4,045,682 4,101,089 114,195 109,712 118,926 2.7% 2.6% 2.8%
Source LIMOSA database and https://www.rsz.be/stats/barometer-van-de-bezoldigde-tewerkstelling-in-belgie#archives

83 The System of National Accounts 2008 is a statistical framework that provides a comprehensive, consistent, and flexible set of macroeconomic
accounts for policymaking, analysis, and research purposes.
84 The European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010) is the newest internationally compatible EU accounting framework for a
systematic and detailed description of an economy.
85 There are two employment concepts depending on the geographical coverage: resident persons in employment (i.e., the so-called national
concept of employment) and employment in the resident production unit irrespective of the place of residence of the employed person (i.e.,
domestic concept). The difference between them corresponds mainly to the net number of cross-border workers. See
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/24987/4253479/LFS-ESA2010.pdf/47eb1f62-b546-4848-a0e5-930ab84a26f8

47
2.3.2 For the Belgian construction sector
In 2015, intra-EU posting accounted for roughly one third of total employment in the Belgian construction
sector (De Wispelaere & Pacolet, 2017). This huge proportion of posted workers in the Belgian construction
industry is rather exceptional within the EU. Only the construction sectors in Luxembourg and Austria have
a comparably high share of posted workers (De Wispelaere et al., 2020). Table 18 presents the share of
posted workers and self-employed persons in total employment in the Belgian construction sector for
reference year 2020. As already noted, the number of posted persons active in the Belgian construction
sector calculated on the basis of LIMOSA data is probably a strong underestimation of the actual number
of posted persons active in this sector of activity.
Figures for 2020 show that posted workers (share of 14%) and self-employed persons (share of 6%)
represent about one fifth of total employment in the Belgian construction sector. In full-time equivalents,
the importance of intra-EU posting drops to around one tenth of total employment in the Belgian
construction sector. Figures for 2021 are already available on the number of blue-collar workers and posted
workers employed in the Belgian construction sector. In the third quarter of 2021, 147,770 blue-collar
workers were employed, and 40,971 workers were posted. This confirms that posted workers represent
about one fifth of the workforce in the Belgian construction sector. Above figures show how dependent
the Belgian construction sector has become on intra-EU posting.

Table 18. Share of incoming posted persons in total employment in the Belgian construction sector,
2020, quarterly data
Employment Incoming posted workers
Blue-collar Temporary Posted self-
Self-employed Posted workers Total
workers* agency workers employed persons
Persons
Number
Q1 147,608 8,068 52,915 33,316 15,650 257,557
Q2 145,577 6,670 54,031 35,131 15,990 257,399
Q3 147,049 7,781 55,147 38,691 16,479 265,147
Q4 145,910 7,343 56,264 38,071 16,446 264,034
Average 146,536 7,466 54,589 36,302 16,141 261,034
Share in total
Q1 57.3% 3.1% 20.5% 12.9% 6.1% 100.0%
Q2 56.6% 2.6% 21.0% 13.6% 6.2% 100.0%
Q3 55.5% 2.9% 20.8% 14.6% 6.2% 100.0%
Q4 55.3% 2.8% 21.3% 14.4% 6.2% 100.0%
Average 56.1% 2.9% 20.9% 13.9% 6.2% 100.0%
Persons in FTE’s
Number
Q1 98,135 3,065 52,915 12,814 6,019 172,948
Q2 94,869 2,456 54,031 13,512 6,150 171,018
Q3 114,106 2,852 55,147 14,881 6,338 193,324
Q4 114,188 3,314 56,264 14,644 6,325 194,735
Average 105,325 2,922 54,589 13,963 6,208 183,006
Share in total
Q1 56.7% 1.8% 30.6% 7.4% 3.5% 100.0%
Q2 55.5% 1.4% 31.6% 7.9% 3.6% 100.0%
Q3 59.0% 1.5% 28.5% 7.7% 3.3% 100.0%
Q4 58.6% 1.7% 28.9% 7.5% 3.2% 100.0%
Average 57.6% 1.6% 29.8% 7.6% 3.4% 100.0%
* Thus excluding white-collar workers
Source Calculations based on data from Constructiv

48
3. Scale and characteristics of infringements related
to intra-EU posting

The main objective of this chapter is to provide administrative data on the number of inspections carried
out by the Belgian labour inspectorates86 on the compliance with the posting rules and the outcome of these
inspections. The collection of such data should allow us to make a preliminary assessment of the extent to
which posting to Belgium is ‘infected’ by all kinds of infringements related to the labour and social security
aspects of posting. As already noted in Chapter 1, the use of inspection data has several limitations of which
the reader should be aware when reading below analysis. Inspection data probably bias the real relationship
between posting and cross-border social fraud. After all, inspections will mostly take place on the basis of a
risk assessment, mostly focused on specific ‘risk sectors’ (e.g., in the construction sector, in road transport,
in the meat processing industry etc.). Such inspections will yield higher infringement rates and may therefore
give a distorted view of the actual number of infringements related to intra-EU posting in the receiving
Member State.
Inspections on the labour and social security aspects of posting are in principle carried out, solely or
jointly, by the social inspection services of the Belgian Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and
Social Dialogue (i.e., both by the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law and the Directorate-
General for Humanisation of Labour87), the National Social Security Office (NSSO) and the National
Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE)). Specialised units are created within the
Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law (i.e., Control of foreign enterprises active on Belgian
territory (COVRON)) and the NSSO inspection department (i.e., GOTOT).88 Furthermore, the Social
Information and Investigation Service (SIOD/SIRS) (mainly by the ‘district cells’), the regional inspection
services, and the Federal Police (mainly by the MOTEM teams (Multidisciplinair Onderzoeksteam - Enquête
Multidisciplinaire)89) play an important role in the fight against cross-border social fraud. Labour inspectors
in Belgium have a broad margin of discretion. They have the competency to provide information and advice,
to issue warnings, to grant a period of time to allow regularization, and to draw up an official report
(Pro Justitia). Infringements may lead to judicial prosecution or administrative fines.90 The labour
auditor/prosecutor (Auditeur du travail/Arbeidsauditeur) investigates and prosecutes criminal offences in
matters related to social and labour law.91,92 This while the ‘service administrative fines’ (Directie van de
administratieve geldboeten/la Direction des amendes administratives) of the Belgian Federal Public Service
Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue is responsible for the administrative fines.
When identifying93 and quantifying infringements, a distinction could be made between the labour law
and social security law aspects of posting. With regard to the application of the Posting of Workers
Directive, infringements such as bogus self-employment and failure to respect the terms and conditions of

86 For an overview of the competences of the Belgian labour inspectorates see Elia and Van de Perre, 2021.
87 Unfortunately, no data are available on the compliance with the OSH rules in the case of posting.
88 See also https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=22386&langId=en.
89 The Federal Police joins forces with the labour inspectorates to combat social dumping, undeclared work, bogus self-employment, and
organised bankruptcies by criminal gangs. These joint investigation teams (MOTEM) tackle social fraud in the same way in all judicial districts.
An investigation plan is drawn up at the opening of each case, in consultation with the competent inspection services. The aim of this initiative
is not to tackle isolated cases of social fraud, but to combat organised social fraud, with a view to recovering illegally acquired property. See
https://annualreport.federalpolice.be/security/economic-social-security/. Since 2019, 282 cases have been started, involving an amount of
€ 62 million (see https://www.politie.be/5998/nl/pers/aanpak-van-sociale-fraude-de-motem).
90 There are 4 sanction levels in the Belgian Social Criminal Code: Level 1: an administrative fine of € 80 to 800; Level 2: a criminal fine of € 400 to
4,000 or an administrative fine of € 200 to 2,000; Level 3: a criminal fine of € 800 to 8,000 or an administrative fine of € 400 to 4,000; Level 4: a
criminal fine of € 4,800 to 48,000 or an administrative fine of € 2,400 to 24,000 and/or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.
91 https://www.om-mp.be/nl/uw-om/arbeidsauditoraten
92 In this chapter no reference is made to case-law linked to infringements related to intra-EU posting. For an overview of some cases see Myria,
2020b; Nevens, 2019.
93 For an overview, see for instance the Annual Report published by the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law and the Strategic Plan
for 2022-2025 of SIOD/SIRS.

49
employment may occur (sometimes even leading to labour exploitation). Figure 12 in Chapter 2 shows that
the national minimum wage applicable in Belgium is much higher than that of a number of main sending
Member States. Workers from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Croatia,
Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Spain should all receive much
higher wages when posted to Belgium. Postings from these countries to Belgium should be considered a
‘red flag’. For example, workers posted from Bulgaria should receive a wage at least five times higher than
the minimum wage applicable in Bulgaria when they are posted to Belgium. Large differences between the
minimum wage applicable in Belgium compared to that applicable in the sending Member State make it
likely that posted workers from these Member States agree with a wage below the Belgian minimum wage.
Furthermore, paying posted workers more than they would receive in the sending Member State, but less
than the mandatory (minimum) wage in the host Member State, gives the posting undertaking an illegal (and
thus unfair) competitive advantage.94,95 Infringements related to the application of the Posting of Workers
Directive may also include not respecting ‘administrative obligations’96 such as not reporting the activities
in the prior declaration tools of the recipient Member State (for Belgium this concerns the LIMOSA
declaration). With regard to the application of the Coordination Regulations (i.e., Regulations 883/2004 and
987/2009), infringements such as the non-compliance with the posting conditions97 as well as paying the
correct level of social security contributions are the main concerns.
Infringements may, of course, also apply to other branches of law, such as migration law. Think for
instance about the posting of third country nationals from one Member State to another without these
persons having a valid residence or work permit. Setting up a letterbox company is another example where
several aspects of the law may be violated. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic a long list of
incidents have made it clear and apparent, due to non-compliance with (additional) Occupational Safety and
Health legislation (OSH), that workers’ safety in different labour-intensive sectors came under pressure.
Especially migrant/mobile workers, including posted workers, found themselves in a particularly vulnerable
situation. In that respect, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that OSH legislation, and (non-
)compliance with it, is equally relevant when discussing infringements related to intra-EU posting. In
Belgium, the importance of health and safety at work in case of the posting of workers has come to the
fore, unfortunately, due to the deadly accident of five posted construction workers that occurred on 18 June
2021 on a construction site in Antwerp.
Finally, infringements related to intra-EU posting might in some cases be linked to criminal activities.98,99
For instance, in 2020, the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit CTIF-CFI worked together with the
Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office on the issue of large-scale social fraud and Brazilian and Portuguese
networks (CTIF-CFI, 2021). Over the past several years CTIF-CFI has found that Brazilian or Portuguese
nationals set up or take over companies, usually in the construction industry and industrial cleaning industry.

94 E.g., imagine a worker of a Bulgarian posting undertaking receiving double the wages he would receive in Bulgaria when posted to Belgium
whereas he should receive not two but at least five times the wage he would receive in Bulgaria. This difference is an unfair competitive
advantage towards Belgian undertakings (mostly SME's, cf. supra) and workers. See also https://www.politie.be/5998/nl/pers/aanpak-van-
sociale-fraude-de-motem: “In the case of social dumping, it is estimated that one employee provides a benefit of around € 38,000 per year
to the employer.”
95 This 'competitive advantage' already exists for posted self-employed persons as they are not covered by the Posting of Workers Directive.
96 Though, they are key to an effective and efficient enforcement.
97 There are several conditions, to be fulfilled cumulatively, for the proper use of posting under the Coordination Regulations: 1) the employer
must ‘normally carry’ out its activities in the Member State of establishment; 2) there is a direct relationship between the posting employer and
the posted worker; 3) the posting is of a temporary nature; 4) the posted worker is not being replaced. All posting conditions can individually
disrupt the labour market of the receiving Member State if they are not respected. For instance, no substantial activities in the Member State
of establishment by setting up a ‘letterbox company’ (see also BTB,2021).
98 https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/employment-fraud-in-construction-sector-twelve-arrested-in-belgium-and-italy “The
criminal organisation, managed by a single Italian family, had several companies in Italy, Romania and Slovakia, which recruited workers
locally. The workers were then sent to in the construction sectors in Western European countries, mainly in Belgium and Luxembourg. In Belgium,
about 20 local subcontractors then hired the workers. The working conditions were often poor and the working legal conditions were not met
including limit of working hours per day/week, minimum salary and annual leave. The investigation uncovered that the hiring companies had
no activity in the countries they were based in and the employees they hired had never actually worked for the original companies. The fraud
is estimated at € 20 million without the possible VAT losses.”
99 https://www.lecho.be/entreprises/construction/un-important-reseau-de-dumping-social-demantele-en-belgique/10340052.html

50
CTIF-CFI recently found that other sectors were also involved, in particular goods transport, and that other
nationalities were involved as well.
This chapter provides administrative data on the number of inspections carried out by the Belgian labour
inspectorates on the compliance with the posting rules and the outcome of these inspections. Reference is
made to data collected and reported by the Social Information and Investigation Service (SIOD/SIRS) as
these data provide a rather complete overview of the available data on the number of inspections and
infringements related to the posting rules (covering figures from the Directorate-General for Supervision
of Social Law, the National Social Security Office (NSSO) and the National Institute for the Social Security
of the Self-employed (NISSE)). Furthermore, some specific activities and findings of the inspection services
of the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law and the National Social Security Office (NSSO)
are reported separately. In order to be able to post agency workers to Belgium, a foreign temporary
employment agency should have accreditation from the Belgian region in which the work is performed.
This falls within the competence of the different Regions and Communities concerned (Flemish Region,
Walloon Region, Brussels Capital Region and German-speaking Community). Data from the competent
inspectorate in Flanders is reported. Finally, figures from the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security
are reported on the dialogue and conciliation procedure concerning the validity of the PD A1.

3.1 The Social Information and Investigation Service

The Social Information and Investigation Service (SIOD/SIRS) is a strategic body that develops, on the
basis of the knowledge and insights of the inspectorates of the administrations and with scientific support,
a vision on the fight against social fraud and translates it into concrete strategies. The SIOD prepares a
strategic plan and an operational action plan and is responsible for policy support.
Every year, SIOD/SIRS publishes a report on the fight against social fraud. This report aggregates data
reported by the inspection services involved in the fight against social fraud on the number of inspectors
involved, the number of inspections, the outcome of the inspections, the sanctions imposed in case of an
infringement etc.
The 2020 report on the fight against social fraud (2021a) shows an imbalance between the number of
available inspectors within the Belgian labour inspectorates to fight cross-border social fraud on the one
hand and national social fraud on the other. Only 64 out of 1,182 inspectors in Belgium (in FTEs) mainly
focus on the fight against cross-border social fraud. This covers about 5% of the inspectors within the
Belgian labour inspectorates. This while both the Action Plan (2021b) and the Strategic Plan 2022-2025
(2022a) of SIOD/SIRS identifies cross-border social fraud (i.e., ‘social dumping’) as one of the biggest risks.
Based on recent figures published by SIOD/SIRS (2022b), the number of labour inspectors focusing on
the fight against cross-border social fraud increased in 2021 from 64 FTEs to 69 FTEs compared to 2020
(+8%). This is a step in the right direction.
Below figures cover the number of inspections and infringements identified by the labour inspectorates
of the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law, the National Social Security Office (NSSO) and
the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE).
Roughly 4% of the inspections carried out by the Belgian labour inspectorates relate to the cross-border
dimension of social fraud. In 2020, some 5,270 inspections related to the issue of cross-border social fraud
(Table 19). This is a slight decrease compared to 2019 (-0.7%). Recent figures for 2021 indicate 4,830
inspections, which is a decrease of 8.3% compared to 2020 (SIOD/SIRS, 2022b)
What is the outcome of these inspections? In 2020, an infringement was found in more than half (53%)
of the inspections related to the fight against cross-border social fraud (i.e., ‘social dumping’) (Table 19). The
infringement rate increased by 14 percentage points compared to 2019. Based on recent figures published
by SIOD/SIRS (2022b), the infringement rate even amounted to 66% in 2021. The infringement rate for
inspections related to the cross-border dimension of social fraud is much higher than for inspections related
to the national dimension of social fraud (38%). This was also the case in 2019 (39% vs 32%). Based on
additional information provided by SIOD/SIRS, a distinction can also be made between inspections that
focused on the enforcement of the labour law aspects of posting and those that focused on the social

51
security law aspects. In both cases, a violation was found during approximately 4 out of 10 inspections in
2019.

Table 19. The scale of infringements related to (cross-border) social fraud in Belgium, 2019-2020

2019 2020
Inspections Inspections
Infringement Infringement
Inspections with an Inspections with an
rate rate
infringement infringement
Related to the fight against
social fraud 149,022 48,317 32% 131,577 50,693 39%
(national + cross-border)
Related to the fight against
5,308 2,049 39% 5,270 2,799 53%
cross-border social fraud
Related to the fight against
143,714 46,268 32% 126,307 47,894 38%
national social fraud
Share/difference of cross-
3.6% 4.2% 4.0% 5.5%
border dimension in total
Source SIOD/SIRS, 2021

The table below takes a closer look at the construction sector (Table 20). These figures include the number
of inspections and infringements identified by the labour inspectorates of the Directorate-General for
Supervision of Social Law, the National Social Security Office (NSSO) and the National Institute for the
Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE). Infringements were found in about 45% of the inspections.100
The construction sector has a high share in the total number of inspections carried out and infringements
detected by the competent labour inspectorates in 2019 and 2020: about seven out of ten inspections on
the compliance with the posting rules are carried out in the construction industry (68% in 2019 and 76% in
2020). In 2019, the infringement rate in the construction sector was significantly higher than for the total
(44% vs 39%) while in 2020 it was the opposite (46% vs 53%). It shows that a high infringement rate may
occur in other sectors as well (comparison Table 20 with Table 19).

Table 20. Cross-border social fraud within the Belgian construction sector, 2019-2020

2019 2020
Inspections Inspections
Infringement Infringement
Inspections with an Inspections with an
rate rate
infringement infringement

Construction sector 3,590 1,566 44% 3,012 1,389 46%

Share construction sector
68% 76% 57% 50%
in total (see Table 19)
Source Parliamentary question from Hans Verreyt to Pierre-Yves Dermagne (55000150I). Data received from SIOD/SIRS

Both in the Annual Report of the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law and in the Strategic
Plan for 2022-2025 of SIOD/SIRS more information is available on the type of infringements related to
posting.101 Moreover, the Strategic Plan 2022-2025 of SIOD/SIRS contains information on the

100 The attention given to the issue of ‘cross-border social fraud’ through posting can sometimes create the impression that ‘national’ social fraud
is no longer a problem in the Belgian construction sector. Yet it remains a challenge that cannot be ignored. In fact, undeclared work was
already a reality before ‘social dumping’ through posting became a hot topic of debate. According to the National Bank of Belgium, around
a fifth of the wealth generated by the construction sector comes from activities in the black economy. This estimate of the extent of
undeclared work is considerably higher than for other sectors (De Wispelaere, 2020).
101 E.g., infringements related to applicable wages and working hours, delocalisation, bogus self-employment, setting up letterbox companies
within the EU from non-EU countries in order to gain access to the European (labour) market and to circumvent national work permit legislation,
circumvention or non-compliance with public procurement award criteria; fraudulent networks (e.g., ‘Brazilian networks’) (SIOD, 2022; TSW,
2019).

52
sectors/groups at risk (2022a). Posted TCNs are identified as the main risk group. Most of the infringements
detected concern postings from Poland and Portugal. Sectors where infringements mainly occur are road
transport and construction. Based on an interview with the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social
Laws and SIOD/SIRS, a number of additional findings can be reported (non-exhaustive):
 The high number of infringements to the core aspects of the Posting of Workers Directive, namely
the payment of a Belgian minimum wage and respecting working time and rest periods, remains a
major concern;
 The sharp increase of the number of TCNs posted to Belgium from other Member States, as
described in Chapter 2, is also observed by the labour inspectors. This reality has led to some
problematic situations and abuses. For instance, in some cases, wages are paid far below the Belgian
minimum wage, sometimes amounting to only € 2 or € 3 per hour. In several cases posted TCNs
are employed in precarious working conditions, sometimes even leading to labour exploitation;
 The phenomenon of bogus self-employment remains a major problem. However, it is often very
time-consuming to prove this. There is a particular focus on problematic situations involving
invoicing at ‘dumping prices’ (e.g., below the minimum wage) or bogus self-employment in
combination with other infringements. (Bogus) self-employed persons are mostly posted from
Member States such as Slovakia (and the Netherlands).

Finally, figures from the district cells of SIOD/SIRS show that the number of detected infringements to
the LIMOSA declaration are relatively low (Table 21). In 2021, 175 infringements (out of more than
15,000 inspections)102 were recorded, of which seven out of ten were in the Belgian construction sector.
Self-employed workers are overrepresented in the number of infringements compared to their share in the
LIMOSA declarations.

Table 21. Number of infringements to the LIMOSA declaration, 2019-2021

Number of Infringements to Infringements to the Total infringements Infringement
inspections the LIMOSA LIMOSA declaration to the LIMOSA rate
carried out declaration for for self-employed (C ) declaration D/A
(A) posted workers (B) D=B+C
2019 14,658 93 60 153 1.0%
2020 10,080 105 57 162 1.6%
2021 15,174 118 57 175 1.2%
Construction 2021 3,651 77 48 125 3.4%
Share construction 24% 65% 84% 71%
in total
Source data from SIOD/SIRS

In 2021, some € 15.3 million claims103 related to unpaid social security contributions within a cross-border
context (incl. additional contributions imposed) (Table 22). Furthermore, due to non-compliance with the
minimum wages and conditions, an additional amount of € 20.3 million of wages and allowances was paid
to employees involved in cases of ‘social dumping’.104 In 2021, the amount applicable to ‘social dumping’
amounted to 4.5% of the total amount of unduly paid social contributions/benefits claimed by the Belgian
labour inspectorates.105 This percentage was lower in 2020 (3%) but higher in 2018 (8%) and 2019 (11%).

102 Not all focused to the fight against ‘social dumping’ (at least 2,000 inspections) - see SIOD/SIRS, 2021b.
103 It is likely that not all of these claims can be recovered.
104 In 2018, an administrative fine of € 666,000 was imposed in relation to ‘social dumping’. That is 25% of the total amount of administrative fines
(see the Annual Report 2018 of the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Law).
105 In 2021, a total of € 342 million of unduly paid social contributions/benefits was claimed by the labour inspectorates. Selecting “Claims related
to unpaid social security contributions”.

53
Table 22. Amount claimed/regulated in case of ‘social dumping’, in €, 2019-2021

2018 2019 2020 2021

Claims related to unpaid social security contributions 21,779,601 35,592,132 8,396,832 15,315,602
Additional amount of wages and allowances paid to
employees involved in cases of ‘social dumping’ 16,993,980 21,769,873 19,799,741 20,259,060
(regularisation)
Total 38,773,581 57,362,005 28,196,573 35,574,662
Source SIOD/SIRS, 2019-2022

3.2 The Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws

Compliance with the labour law aspects of posting as defined in the Posting of Workers Directive is mainly
monitored by the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws.106 In this subsection, the issue of
transnational cooperation between Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws and the competent
authorities in other Member States by making use of the Internal Market Information System (IMI) is
addressed. IMI is an online tool that facilitates the exchange of information between public authorities
involved in the practical implementation of EU law. One of the aims of IMI is to support administrative
cooperation and mutual assistance between the competent authorities of the Member States concerning the
application and enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive. Indeed, the tool can be used by labour
inspectorates to request and exchange information.
Besides Austria, Belgium is one of the most intensive users of the IMI tool. In 2018, 876 questions were
sent through IMI, mostly related to requests for additional information (Table 23). This while only 34
questions were received. No information is available on which Member States these questions are addressed
to.

Table 23. Posting information exchanges through IMI by Belgium as sending and receiving Member
State, 2018

As sending MS As receiving MS
Number Column % Number Column %
Information requests 777 89% 28 82%
Urgent requests 77 9% 0 0%
Request to send documents 17 2% 3 9%
UI – Notification of a decision 5 1% 1 3%
UI – Request to recover
0 0% 0 0%
penalty/fine
Communication of
0 0% 2 6%
Irregularities
Total 876 100% 34 100%
Source https://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/statistics/2019/08/posting-of-workers/index_en.htm

3.3 The inspection department of the National Social Security Office

Compliance with the social security aspects of the posting of workers as defined in the Coordination
Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 is mainly monitored by the Directorate-General for Supervision of
Social Laws. The inspection department of the NSSO has several specialised teams. As already stated, the
GOTOT team mainly focuses on the fight against cross-border fraud. In addition, the ECOSOC team may
also play an important role. The main task of an ECOSOC team is two-sided and consists of investigating
the illegal employment of foreign workers and detecting situations of human trafficking, and especially
labour exploitation.

106 Compliance with OSH conditions is enforced by the Directorate-General for Humanisation of Labour.

54
 From 31 May to 6 June 2021, action days against labour exploitation were organised in 24 countries with
the support of Europol.107 The focus in Belgium was on detecting labour exploitation among posted third-
country nationals working in the construction sector. The inspectorate of the NSSO organised these actions,
in close cooperation with the specialised unit from the Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws.
In total, 35 construction sites, 126 employers, 419 employees and 29 self-employed workers were inspected.
Indicators of economic exploitation were found for 5 of the employers and further investigations of
suspected posting fraud were carried out for 24 companies. Of the workers checked, 18 undeclared workers
were found, and 12 workers were employed illegally. For 78 posted workers, the specific obligations to work
in Belgium were not respected by the foreign employer or the Belgian user. Finally, two construction sites
were sealed.

3.4 The Flemish Social Inspection

In order to be able to post agency workers to Belgium, a foreign temporary employment agency should have
accreditation from the Belgian region in which the work is performed. This falls within the competence of
the different Regions and Communities in Belgium. Data from the competent inspectorate in Flanders is
reported on the number of inspections carried out.
In 2019, 94 inspections were conducted at foreign temporary employment agencies. This concerned
mainly Dutch temporary employment agencies (two out of three) and to a lesser extent Polish temporary
employment agencies.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flemish Social Inspection increased its efforts in 2020 to conduct
more administrative audits of foreign temporary work agencies that may be operating in Flanders without a
valid license. These agencies were informed about the applicable regulations and were asked to provide
information so that an ‘on desk’ inspection could be carried out. Of the 100 planned ‘on desk’ inspections,
66 could be completed in 2020, largely due to the long processing times in these files.
Finally, a so-called ‘red flag’ can be identified. Since the end of 2017, the ‘accreditation number’ of the
foreign temporary employment agency is requested in LIMOSA. As a result, only agency workers posted by
a foreign temporary employment agency with an authorisation are reported under this category. The fact
that the number of reported posted agency workers was much higher before 2018 seems to indicate that
many of these ‘agency workers’ were posted by foreign temporary employment agencies without an
authorisation. For that reason, the focus could/should be on foreign private employment agencies which
now report their activities under ‘other sector’ whereas before the change in LIMOSA they indicated to
send agency workers to Belgium (see also input Federgon).

3.5 The Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security: the OSIRIS-project
Decision No A1 of 12 June 2009108 lays down the rules for the application of a dialogue and conciliation
procedure concerning the validity of documents, the determination of the applicable legislation and the
provision of benefits under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. In order to give full effect to Decision A1, the
Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security initiated the OSIRIS project in June 2015, in partnership with
the other competent Belgian institutions (Morsa, 2019; 2015). The aim was to systematise the use of the
dialogue and conciliation procedure in the handling of disputes relating to the validity of PDs A1.
There are three phases defined in the dialogue and conciliation procedure (Figure 15). In the first stage, in
the event of doubts concerning the validity of the PD A1 issued by the competent institution of another
Member State, or in the event of a dispute relating to the (provisional) determination of the applicable law,
the inspection services send a reasoned request to the competent institution(s) in the other Member State
concerned, asking them to provide the necessary clarifications concerning its decision and, if necessary, to
withdraw the PD A1. If the institutions cannot reach an agreement during the first stage of the dialogue

107 See https://www.rsz.be/nieuws/2021/06/16/rsz-coordineert-gezamenlijk-onderzoek-in-de-bouwsector-diverse-vaststellingen-uitbuiting-en-

fraude and https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/630-potential-victims-of-exploitation-identified-during-europe-
wide-coordinated-action-days
108 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010D0424(01)&from=de

55
procedure, the institutions notify their competent authorities. They each appoint a central contact person.
These contact persons shall endeavour to seek an agreement on the matter. If no agreement is reached at
the end of the second phase of the dialogue, the parties concerned may go to the Administrative
Commission, with the possibility of a referral to a Conciliation Board if both parties to the dispute and the
Administrative Commission agree. As below figures show, the competent Belgian institutions and
authorities have been using the dialogue and conciliation procedure quite extensively since mid-2015.

Figure 15. Dialogue and conciliation procedure: ‘A1 procedure’

Source Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security

Roughly 1,580 files have been processed via the OSIRIS platform between June 2015 and 1 January 2021
(cumulative). By far the most files concern PDs A1 issued by Poland (473 files or almost 30% of the total
files) and, to a lesser extent, files related to PDs A1 forms issued by Portugal (208 files), Slovakia (129 files)
and Romania (112 files) (Figure 16). Finally, since June 2015, only seven times a ‘Belgian’ case was discussed
by the Conciliation Board.

Figure 16. Number of cases processed via the OSIRIS platform between June 2015 and 1 January 2021,
top 5 Member States involved

500 473

450

400

350
Number of cases

300

250
208
200

150 129
112
100 82

50

0
Bulgaria Romania Slovakia Portugal Poland
Source Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security

Finally, data on the number of PDs A1 withdrawn by the competent Member States applicable to activities
in Belgium show that each year more than 1,000 PDs A1 are withdrawn by the competent institutions in
another Member State which apply to activities in Belgium (Figure 17). In 2018, a peak was reached of 1,673
withdrawn PDs A1. This concerns between 0.5 and 1% of the total number of PDs A1 issued to workers
posted to Belgium.

56
Figure 17. Number of PDs A1 withdrawn applicable to activities in Belgium, 2015 - 2020

1,800
1,673
Number of PDs A1 withdrawn applicable

1,600

1,400
1,260
to activities in Belgium

1,232
1,200 1,134
1,077
1,000
808
800

600

400

200

0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Source Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security

57
4. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intra-EU
posting

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on free movement had an important impact on labour
mobility in the EU, and thus also on the provision of services in another Member State (Fries-Tersch et al.,
2022; De Wispelaere et al., 2022). To what extent the pandemic slowed down the inflow and outflow of
posted workers in 2020 for Belgium is discussed in this chapter.109

4.1 To Belgium
In 2020, the number of posted persons to Belgium decreased by 6.3% compared to 2019. The number of
persons declared in LIMOSA decreased by about 16,360 persons in 2020 (257,728 persons) as compared to
2019 (241,368 persons). The decrease in the number of reported posted workers (-6.2%) was slightly higher
than that for the number of reported posted self-employed persons (-8%). The evolution of the number of
calendar days reported in LIMOSA (including weekend) is another relevant indicator to measure the impact
of COVID-19 on intra-EU posting to Belgium. In 2019, the number of calendar days reported in LIMOSA
amounted to 41.6 million days, whereas in 2020 it decreased to 40.4 million days. This implied a decrease in
2020 of ‘only’ 2.8% compared to 2019. The fact that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the inflow
of posted persons to Belgium remained relatively limited is also visible when looking at the trend figures.
Figure 2 in Chapter 2 shows that the number of posted persons reported in LIMOSA for 2020 was still
higher than the number of posted persons before 2017.
Looking across the year on a month-by-month basis, the figures available for Belgium suggest that there
was a drop in the numbers of posted persons in line with the level of government restrictions. As Figures 18
and 19 show, there is a strong deviation from the 2019 pattern for the numbers of postings reported in April
and May 2020. In both months, the data shows a 12% decrease compared to the same period in 2019. The
number of posted persons was picking up relatively quickly in the following months. It appears that the
COVID-19 pandemic only had a temporary effect on the number of posted persons to Belgium. For
instance, the number of persons reported in 2021 was 5.5% higher than in 2020. Moreover, the number of
persons reported per month from June 2021 onwards was always much higher than for the same months
in 2019.
Finally, Lens et al. (2021) observe some important differences when analysing the posting notifications by
nationality groups of the posted workers. The number of notifications for EU-citizens roughly followed the
general pattern: a sharp dip in April 2020, followed by a recovery in June-August 2020, finally followed by
a new dip as of September 2020. On the contrary, the number of notifications for workers with a nationality
from outside the EU (e.g., Ukrainians and Belarusians) hardly decreased in April 2020. In May-June 2020
the number was rather similar to previous years and the number of notifications really peaked in November
2020. In Chapter 2 of this report, it was already mentioned that the group of posted Ukrainians increased by
69% compared to 2019 and the group of posted Belarusians even by 263%.

109 In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic certainly had an impact on the Belgian labour inspectorates (see Loyens et al., 2022).

58
Figure 18. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA during the reference month, 2019-2021

160,000
150,000
Number of persons

140,000
130,000
120,000
110,000
100,000

2018 2019 2020 2021

Source LIMOSA database

Figure 19. Number of persons reported in LIMOSA during the reference month, evolution 2020 vs 2019

145,000 4%
140,000 2%
135,000 0%
Number of persons

130,000 -2%

% change
125,000 -4%
120,000 -6%
115,000 -8%
110,000 -10%
105,000 -12%
100,000 -14%

2019 2020 % change 2020 vs 2019

Source LIMOSA database

4.2 From Belgium

The available data on outgoing postings also reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number
of workers with a PD A1 sent to another Member State under Article 12 BR in 2020 decreased by 26%
compared to 2019 (Table 24). This is a significantly larger decrease than that for the number of incoming
posted workers (-6%) and for the total group of persons who received a PD A1 in 2020 (-11%).

Table 24. Evolution of persons with a PD A1 issued by Belgium, 2020 vs 2019

2019 2020 % change 2020 vs 2019
Total PDs A1
Number of PDs A1 150,677 123,839 -18%
Number of persons involved 79,181 70,445 -11%
5 March 43,780 47,163 8%
4 June 45,362 45,574 0%
3 September 45,410 47,664 5%
3 December 46,782 48,550 4%

59
 2019 2020 % change 2020 vs 2019
Posted workers (Art. 12.1)
Number of PDs A1 77,865 54,406 -30%
Persons involved 34,466 25,481 -26%
5 March 1,500 1,482 -1%
4 June 1,625 1,362 -16%
3 September 1,661 1,364 -18%
3 December 1,750 1,403 -20%
Source WABRO database

60
5. The economic impact of the amended Posting of
Workers Directive

As far as the terms and conditions of employment of posted workers are concerned, Directive 96/71/EC
(i.e., Posting of Workers Directive), is relevant. In 2016, the European Commission submitted a proposal
for a revised Posting of Workers Directive.110 Mid 2018, an agreement was reached on the matter. On 28
June 2018, Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC was adopted. A two-year
implementation period was set until 30 July 2020 for the Member States. The major changes concern the
new rules on remuneration, temporary agency work, and long-term posting (see also the Practical Guide on
Posting published by the Commission (EC, 2019)). One of the main amendments concerns the changes to
the list of so-called ‘hard core provisions’ which has to be guaranteed vis-à-vis the posted workers. Essential
in this is the replacement of the concept of “minimum wages” with the concept of “remuneration”. As a
result of this amendment, all wage elements have to be taken into account, including supplements to the
wage such as overtime rates, allowances for working at night, allowances for working on Sundays or on
public holidays, holiday remunerations, end of the year bonuses and the 13th month bonuses (Verschueren,
2021).
The Act of 12 June 2020 on diverse matters of posting of workers to Belgium implements Directive (EU)
2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC into Belgian legislation.111 The Act entered into force on 30 July
2020 and mainly amends the Act of 5 March 2002 on working conditions, wages, and conditions of
employment in the event of the posting of workers to Belgium and the compliance therewith, and the Act
of 24 July 1987 on temporary work, temporary agency work, and the hiring-out of workers for the benefit
of users. Several legal experts commented on the main legal consequences for Belgium (see e.g., Aerts & De
Roo, 2021; Clesse & Morsa, 2020; Pecinovsky, 2020; Verschueren, 2021). Their analysis gives the impression
that the impact of the revised Posting of Workers Directive is relatively limited, both in terms of the legal
amendments to be made and the application of it by the stakeholders involved.112
This chapter aims to give an idea of the (economic) impact based on administrative data available and/or
on input from several stakeholders involved. Though, it cannot be denied that more than a year and a half
after the implementation of the Directive(EU) 2018/957, it is still difficult to make a thorough economic
analysis of its impact.113 For instance, no well-founded statement can be made whether the revised Directive
leads to an increase in the number of posted bogus self-employed persons or has an impact on the duration
of posting.114 Or whether it really has led to an increase in the remuneration paid to posted workers. In this
chapter, we mainly look at 1) the information duty for the ‘receiving’ Member States as regards the terms
and conditions of employment applicable when workers are posted to their territory, and 2) postings longer
than 12 months.

5.1 Impact on access to information

Directive (EU) 2018/957 introduced an information duty for the receiving Member States as regards the
working and employment conditions applicable when workers are posted to their territory. Belgium has
implemented this obligation by providing a dedicated page (available in Dutch, French and English but not
in German) on the website of the Federal Public Service of Employment, Work and Social Dialogue.115
110 See COM(2016) 128 and the impact assessment SWD(2016) 52 final.
111 https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/change_lg.pl?language=fr&la=F&cn=2020061205&table_name=loi
112 See e.g. “Although the revision of the nucleus rules is of great importance at European level, it has less impact on Belgian law. After all, the
Belgian Posting of Workers Act has never taken much notice of the nucleus enumeration in the Posting of Workers Directive by using a broad
and vague description of the working conditions to be applied.” (Pecinovsky, 2020).
113 To give an example. We tried to collect information on the information duty in case of temporary agency work. However, we could not find
out whether these new provisions are applied in practice or not.
114 However, based on the analysis from Chapter 2, the revision does not seem to have had an impact on the evolution of both variables.
115 https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting

61
 First, we would like to point out the lack of knowledge about the (new) labour law rules to be respected
in case of posting. It shows the importance of easily accessible information as a lack of knowledge may lead
to a lack of compliance. Although it cannot be denied that for many companies, the provision of services
to another Member State is daily practice. Consequently, it may have been difficult for them to know and
apply all the new rules just after the implementation of the revised Directive, but this argument does not
hold true permanently.

5.1.1 Awareness/knowledge gap may lead to a compliance gap

Within the framework of the MOBILIVE-project,116 an online questionnaire was sent to organisations active
in the live performance sector (1) those providing music & performing arts (i.e., theatre, concerts, opera,
dance, circus and other stage productions and related support activities); 2) those providing booking and
management activities in the live performance sector; and finally, 3) operation of venues (e.g., concert halls,
theatres and other arts facilities also including festivals). The aim was to gather information from employers
working across the EU and companies hosting artists and supporting staff from other Member States.
It appears that a large proportion of the Belgian organisations in the live performance sector are not aware
of the rules (e.g., regarding the working conditions) applicable to posted workers. For instance, the online
questionnaire contained a question asking the organisations whether they were aware of the amendment of
the Posting of Workers Directive. Table 25 gives an overview of the replies by typology of organisation. The
figures clearly show that the vast majority of Belgian organisations were not aware of the changes in
legislation. Only one out of four respondents was aware of the recent amendment of the Posting of Workers
Directive and its implications. This is all the more surprising, as it can be assumed that organisations would
respond in a socially desirable way to the question.

Table 25. Share of Belgian organisations active in the live performance sector and working across the EU
aware of the amendment of the Posting of Workers Directive, by type of organisation, in %

Music, performing arts Booking and Operation of venues Total

and related activities management activities
Yes 25.0% 25.0% 14.3% 23.1%
No 75.0% 75.0% 85.7% 76.9%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Source De Wispelaere et al., 2021 based on an online questionnaire (total respondents: 39).

5.1.2 The single official national website

Member States have the obligation to create a single official national website containing the information on
the terms and conditions of employment applicable to workers posted to their territory.117 This information
must be made generally available free of charge, in a clear, transparent, comprehensive, and easily accessible
way. The website should include, where possible, links to existing websites and other contact points, in
particular of the relevant social partners. Moreover, Member States should ensure that the information
provided on the single official national website is accurate and is updated on a regular basis.
Directive (EU) 2018/957/EU provides that when the information on the single national website does not
indicate which terms and conditions of employment are to be applied, this should be taken into account in
determining penalties in the event of infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the
Directive.118 Articles 18 and 19 of the Act of 12 June 2020 foresee that the courts and the administration

116 https://hiva.kuleuven.be/en/news/newsitems/Cross-border-employment-in-the-live-performance-sector
117 For an overview of all these national websites see:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/work-abroad/posted-workers/index_en.htm#shortcut-6
118 See recital 21 of Directive (EU) 2018/957: “Any penalty imposed on an undertaking for non-compliance with the terms and conditions of
employment to be ensured to posted workers should be proportionate, and the determination of the penalty should take into account, in
particular, whether the information on the single official national website on the terms and conditions of employment was provided in
accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2014/67/EU, respecting the autonomy of the social partners.”

62
who enforce the application of the terms and conditions of employment to posted workers in Belgium need
to take into consideration the fact that certain matters are not (duly) mentioned on the website when they
decide on the sanction they will impose (this does not mean that they cannot impose a sanction).119
Therefore, it is important that the website is clear and contains all the necessary information.
The Working Group on Information within the European Labour Authority (ELA) is peer reviewing the
single official national websites on the posting of workers.120 The peer review covers an analysis of the
accessibility, accuracy, completeness, and user-friendliness of the posting webpages. The review of the
Belgian website by another Member State, the Commission, and the social partners, was discussed in the
September meeting of 2021 of the Working Group.121 In general, positive feedback was given on the Belgian
website.
The statistics below (Table 26) show the most frequently consulted pages on the single official national
website for Belgium between 1 January and 31 March 2021. A distinction is made between the consultation
of information in Dutch, French, and English. The information on ‘working time and rest periods’122 is by
far the most frequently consulted for all three available languages. The page with information on
‘remuneration’ is consulted remarkably less. It is precisely this page where information is available on the
remuneration laid down by sectorial collective agreements.123 The minimal amounts of remuneration are
laid down per sector by the competent joint committee. Information on the remuneration is provided for
13 Joint Committees.124 The information for the food industry (Joint Committee 118) was most frequently
consulted during the first trimester of 2021 (Table 27). In addition, the information for Joint Committee 111
“Metal, machine and electric construction for workers” and for Joint Committee 140.03 “Road transport”
is also frequently consulted. It is therefore not the case that only the terms and conditions applicable to the
construction sector (Joint Committee 124) are consulted. The frequent consultation of the information for
the food industry and the metal industry seem to indicate that many posted workers in Belgium are active
in both sectors.

Table 26. Consultation of information on the single national website, 1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021

Consultation of information Consultation of information Consultation of information

available in Dutch available in French available in English
Number Number of Number
Topic Topic Topic
of views views of views
Working time and Working time and Working time and rest
9,961 12,167 2,493
rest periods rest periods periods
Posting 1,592 Public holidays 9,446 Posting 1,713
Supervision of social Liaison offices and
1,416 Remuneration 2,360 1,281
legislation labour inspectorate
Concept and Minimum paid Minimum paid annual
1,395 1,682 1,138
formalities annual holidays holidays
Working conditions
Working conditions to
to be respected in
1,214 Posting 1,519 be respected in case of 1,110
case of posting to
posting to Belgium
Belgium
Source National Labour Council (CNT-NAR)

119 See also the revised articles 110 and 115 of the Belgian Social Criminal Code.
120 https://www.ela.europa.eu/en/what-we-do
121 https://www.ela.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2021-10/ELA%20Summary_Working_Group_on_Information_27_September_2021.pdf
122https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting/working-conditions-be-respected-case-posting-belgium/working-time-
and
123 https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting/working-conditions-be-respected-case-posting-belgium/remuneration
124 E.g., for the construction sector see:
https://employment.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/documents/International/Limosa%20fiches%20EN/Limosafiche%20PC%20124%20E
N.pdf

63
Table 27. Consultation of information for specific joint committees, 1 January 2021 – 31 March 2021

Available in Dutch Available in French Available in English

Number of Number of Number of
Joint Committee Joint Committee Joint Committee
downloads downloads downloads
JC 118 Food industry 790 JC 118 Food industry 1,771 JC 200 Employees 343
JC 111 Metal,
JSC 140.03 Road JSC 140.03 Road machine and electric
482 721 237
transport transport construction for
workers
JC 111 Metal,
machine and electric JC 124 Building
442 JC 144 Agriculture 717 198
construction for sector
workers
JC 200 Employees 430 JC 200 Employees 666 JC 118 Food industry 193
JC 111 Metal,
JC 126 Furniture and JC 126 Furniture and
machine and electric
wood processing 407 544 wood processing 189
construction for
industry industry
workers
Source National Labour Council (CNT-NAR)

5.2 Impact of the new provisions related to long-term postings

If the posting period exceeds 12 months, the posting undertaking is obliged to apply all the other
mandatorily applicable terms and conditions of employment of the host Member State.125 The working
conditions, which must be applied during the first 12 months of the posting in Belgium, also apply after
those 12 months. In addition to these provisions, a set of additional Belgian working conditions should be
respected.126 Consequently, in case the posting takes longer than one year, the posted worker will be treated
almost as a local worker (at least from a labour law perspective).

5.2.1 Monitoring
In Belgium, there is no systematic monitoring of the compliance with this provision. Only during
inspections compliance with that set of additional Belgian working, remuneration and employment
conditions is verified. A systematic monitoring of compliance with these provisions could be done on the
basis of data from the LIMOSA declaration. Companies that have been active in Belgium for more than 12
months would then be selected and subjected to an inspection. However, it is unlikely that the Directorate-
General for Supervision of Social Law will consider the enforcement of this provisions as a priority. After
all, the number of additional terms and conditions of employment to be applied when the posting is longer
than 12 months seems rather limited in Belgium. Moreover, inspections related to the compliance with the
‘basic’ terms and conditions of employment (e.g., compliance with the minimum amounts of remuneration
laid down per sector by the competent joint committee) may have priority. Not least because infringement
rates are still very high (see Chapter 3). Finally, the number of postings to Belgium lasting longer than 12
months is also relatively limited (see Chapter 2). This does not mean that it would not be interesting to
consider companies posting workers to Belgium for a period longer than 12 months as a priority for
inspections.

125 There are two exceptions to this rule: the host Member State’s procedures and conditions of conclusion and termination of the employment
contract and the rules on supplementary occupational pension schemes do not apply to workers posted for long term according to the host
Member State’s rules (EC, 2019).
126 Such additional Belgian working conditions are those provided for by the legal and regulatory provisions that are not sanctioned under
criminal law. They concern, in particular, the rights and obligations of the worker and the employer and the suspension of the execution of the
employment contract. The foreign employer must never apply the provisions relating to: the procedures, formalities and conditions governing
the conclusion and termination of the employment contract, including the non-competition clause, and the contributions to supplementary
occupational pension schemes (see https://employment.belgium.be/en/themes/international/posting/working-conditions-be-respected-
case-posting-belgium#toc_heading_2).

64
5.2.2 Motivated notifications
When the duration of the posting exceeds 12 months, the posted worker’s employer may be exempt, for an
additional six-month period, from the obligation to apply the additional working conditions which must be
complied with. In order to be exempt from applying these additional Belgian working conditions, the
employer must send a motivated notification to the labour inspectors of the Directorate-General for
Supervision of Social Laws of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue.127 This
notification may also be sent by a representative of the employer.
During the first year of implementation, 421 motived notifications were made by 35 unique employers
and 19 unique representatives (Table 28). The main reasons for the requests were the COVID-19 pandemic
and an unforeseen extension of the project.
This low number can indicate three things: 1) the duration of postings is often lower than 12 months, so
no motivated notification needs to be made; 2) posting undertakings are not sufficiently aware of this
possibility; or 3) due to the low probability of being inspected, many employers do not submit a motivated
notification. The average duration of postings to Belgium amounted to 144 days in 2020. This is an average
duration, with many postings exceeding one year their number far exceeding the number of 421 motivated
notifications. Therefore, companies that send their employees to Belgium for longer than 12 months might
not yet sufficiently be aware of this possibility.

Table 28. Number of motivated notifications received, total received from implementation (date) until
June 2021

Number
Number of motivated
421
notifications
Number of employers involved 35 unique employers, of which 15 with a Belgian VAT number
Number of representatives of
19 unique representatives, of which 8 with a Belgian VAT number
the employer
Main reasons COVID-19 and unforeseen extension of the project
Source Directorate-General for Supervision of Social Laws of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social
Dialogue

127 See https://www.notification-posting.belgium.be/posting/

65
6. References

Aerts, K. & De Roo, P. (2021), ‘Detacheren blijft proberen. Over de omzetting van de nieuwe
Detacheringsrichtlijn in België’, Oriëntatie, Nr. 3, pp. 67-81. Available at:
https://www.jurisquare.be/en/journal/orm/index.html
Algemene Directie Toezicht op de Sociale Wetten (TSW) – FOD WASO, Activiteitenverslagen 2009-2018,
TSW-FOD WASO: Brussels. Available at:
https://werk.belgie.be/sites/default/files/content/publications/NL/Jaarverslag%202018.pdf
Belgian Financial Processing Unit CTIF-CFI (2021), 2020 Annual Report, Brussels: CTIF-CFI. Available
at: https://www.ctif-cfi.be/website/images/EN/annual_report/ra2020-en.pdf
BTB (2021), 5th black book on social dumping, BTB: Brussels. Available at: https://www.btb-
abvv.be/images/WegvervoerEnLogistiek/campagne/sociale_dumping/Engels/Zwartboek_SocialeDump
ing_2021_ENG.pdf
Cillo, R. (2020), From Morocco and Tunisia to Belgium via Italy: migration and posting of third country nationals,
University of Venice: Venice, Con3Post project. Available at:
http://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/publikacje/regional-case-study-from-morocco-and-tunisia-to-belgium-
via-italy-migration-and-posting-of-third-country-nationals-work-package-3-2/
Clesse, Ch.-E. & Morsa, M. (2020), Travailleurs détachés et mis à disposition, 3e édition, Larcier. Available at :
https://www.larcier.com/fr/travailleurs-detaches-et-mis-a-disposition-2020-9782807918566.html
Constructiv (2021), De bouw: een veerkrachtige sector! Constructiv jaarverslag 2020, Constructiv: Brussel.
Available at: https://jaarverslag2020constructiv.be/nl/
De Coninck. M., Gillis D. & Jorens Y. (2013), The Belgian Social Criminal Code. An English Translation by
IRIS|international research institute on social fraud, Die Keure, Brugge,.
De Wispelaere, F. & Gillis, D. (2021), COVID-19 and the fight against undeclared work, HIVA-working
paper, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven. Available at: https://hiva.kuleuven.be/en/news/newsitems/working-
paper-COVID-19-and-the-fight-against-undeclared-work.
De Wispelaere, F., & Pacolet, J. (2017), The size and impact of intra-EU posting on the Belgian Economy. With a
special focus on the construction sector, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven. Available at:
https://hiva.kuleuven.be/nl/nieuws/docs/omvang-en-impact-intra-eu-detachering-en.pdf
De Wispelaere, F., 2020, De strijd tegen zwartwerk in de Belgische bouwsector - een stand van zaken – La lutte contre
le travail au noir dans le secteur de la construction en Belgique – état des lieux, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven. Available
at: https://hiva.kuleuven.be/nl/nieuws/nieuwsitems/discussiepaper-de-strijd-tegen-zwartwerk-in-de-
belgische-bouwsector-stand-van-zaken
De Wispelaere, F., Chakkar, S., & Struyven, L. (2020), Incoming and outgoing posted workers in the Belgian
labour market statistics. With a focus on the Brussels-Capital Region. Summary, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven.
Available at: https://hiva.kuleuven.be/nl/nieuws/docs/zl730355-summary-eind-en.pdf
De Wispelaere, F., De Smedt, L. & Pacolet, J. (2022), Posting of workers: Report on A1 portable documents
issued in 2020, Network Statistics FMSSFE, EC-DG EMPL: Brussels. Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?advSearchKey=Report+on+A1+Portable+Documents+issued+in
+2020&mode=advancedSubmit&catId=22&doc_submit=&policyArea=0&policyAreaSub=0&country=0
&year=0
De Wispelaere, F., De Smedt, L. & Pacolet, J. (2021a), Posting of workers: Report on A1 portable documents
issued in 2019, Network Statistics FMSSFE, EC-DG EMPL: Brussels. Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?advSearchKey=Report+on+A1+Portable+Documents+issued+in

66
+2019&mode=advancedSubmit&catId=22&doc_submit=&policyArea=0&policyAreaSub=0&country=0
&year=0
De Wispelaere, F., De Smedt, L. & Pacolet, J. (2021b), Posting of workers: data on the prior notification tools.
Reference year 2019, Network Statistics FMSSFE, EC-DG EMPL: Brussels. Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8416&furtherPubs=yes.
De Wispelaere, F., Jorens, Y., Rocca, M., Schepers, W., Nerinckx, E. & Duchateau, L. (2021), Cross-
border employment in the live performance sector. Exploring the social security and employment status of highly mobile
workers, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven. Available at: https://hiva.kuleuven.be/nl/nieuws/docs/zkd8143-
rapport-eind-web.pdf.
De Wispelaere, F., Struyven, L. & Pacolet, J. (2020), ‘Tijdelijke Europese arbeidsmobiliteit richting
Nederland en België: zelfde trend, andere vorm’, Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken, No. 2, pp. 118-136.
Available at: https://www.aup-online.com/content/jour,nals/10.5117/2020.036.002.002
Elias, B. & Van de Perre, S. (2021), Sociale inspectie. Van eerste inlichting tot gerechtelijke vervolging, Intersentia:
Brussel. Available at: https://intersentia.be/nl/sociale-inspectie.html
European Commission, Practical Guide on Posting, European Commission: Brussels. Available at:
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/8ac7320a-170f-11ea-8c1f-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en
Federal Planning Bureau (2021), Macroeconomic and fiscal effects of the draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Report to the Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, FPB: Brussels. Available at:
https://www.plan.be/uploaded/documents/202104301033290.FPB_RRP_Economic_impact_12401_E.p
df
Federal Public Service Social Security (2020), Report on the use of the dialogue and conciliation procedure provided
for in Decision A1, Note from the Belgian delegation of 25 November 2020 presented in the Administrative
Commission.
FOD Sociale Zekerheid (2021), Monitoring OSIRIS op 1 januari 2021, Verslag over de opvolging van de
bemiddelingsdossiers in het kader van de dialoog- en bemiddelingsprocedure A1, FOD Sociale Zekerheid: Brussel.
Fries-Tersch, E., Hassan, E., Jones, M. and Siöland, L. (2022), Annual Report on Intra-EU Labour Mobility
2021, Network Statistics FMSSFE, on behalf of the European Commission - DG EMPL.
Jorens, Y., De Wispelaere, F. & Pacolet, J. (2021), Fraud and error in the field of EU social security coordination,
European Commission: Brussels. Available at:
Kováčová, L., Studená, I. & Kureková, L. (2021), Bridging the gap between legislation and practice in the posting
of workers: Slovakia Country Report, POW-BRIDGE project. Available at:
https://www.euro.centre.org/downloads/detail/4038
Lens, D., Marx, I., & Mussche, N. (2021), De effecten van de COVID-19 pandemie op arbeidsmigratie en –
mobiliteit, CSB-Bericht 2021/03, CSB - Universiteit Antwerpen: Antwerpen. Available at:
https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/files/57001/6b2e29da-78b4-4e80-a1c7-2210a291050d.pdf
Lens, D., Mussche, N. & Marx, I. (2021a), ‘A hole in the wall of fortress Europe: The trans-European
posting of third-country labour migrants’, International Migration. Available at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imig.12867
Lens, D., Mussche, N. & Marx, I. (2021b), ‘The different faces of international posting: Why do
companies use posting of workers?’, European Journal of Industrial Relations. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F09596801211023262
Loyens, K., de Boer, N. & Schott, C. (2022), Inspectiewerk tijdens de Coronacrisis, University of Utrecht,
commissed by SIOD/SIRS. Available at:
https://www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/Inspectiewerk%20tijdens%20de%20coronacrisis%20onderzoeksra
pport.pdf

67
 Magdeleine, J. & Maurer, A. (2009), Measurement Issues of Labour Mobility and Trade in Services through the
Movement of Persons, note presented to UNECE Group of Experts on the Impact of Globalization on
National Accounts, UN: Geneva. Available at:
https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S009-
DP.aspx?language=E&CatalogueIdList=108652
Magdeleine, J. and A. Maurer (2008), Measuring GATS Mode 4 Trade Flows, WTO Staff Working Paper,
ERSD-2008-05, October. Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd200805_e.pdf
McGrath, J. (2022), Report on Labour Shortages and Surpluses 2021, European Labour Authority. Available
at: https://www.ela.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2021-
12/2021%20Labour%20shortages%20%20surpluses%20report.pdf
Morsa, M. (2015), Invoering van een Europese samenwerking in de strijd tegen grensoverschrijdende
sociale fraude, BTSZ, Nr. 3, pp. 609-631. Available at:
https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/nl/publicaties/btsz/2015/btsz-2015-
3-morsa-nl.pdf
Morsa, M. (2019), The European Regulations on Social Security Coordination from the perspective of
the Belgian Authority, BTSZ, No. 1, pp. 139-155. Available at:
https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/nl/publicaties/btsz/2019/btsz-2019-
1-european-regulations-on-social-security-coordination-belgian-authority-nl.pdf
Mussche, N. & Lens, D. (2019), The ECJ's construction of an EU mobility regime-Judicialization and
the posting of thirdcountry Nationals, Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(6), 1247–1261. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12891
Mussche, N., Corluy, V. & Marx, I. (2018), How posting shapes a hybrid single European labour
market, European Journal of Industrial Relations, 24(2), 113–127. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680117708374
Myria - Federaal Migratiecentrum (2020a), Migratie in cijfers en in rechten 2020, Katern Economische migratie,
vrij verkeer en studenten, Myria: Brussel, pp. 34-35. Available at: https://www.myria.be/files/2020_JVMIG_-
_Economische_migratie.pdf
Myria – Federaal Migratiecentrum (2020b), Jaarlijks evaluatieverslag 2020 Mensenhandel en mensensmokkel,
Myria: Brussel. Available at:
https://www.myria.be/files/Jaarlijks_evaluatierapport_2020_Mensenhandel_en_mensensmokkel.pdf
NAR – Commissie individuele arbeidsverhoudingen – sociale zekerheid (2021), Omzetting van Richtlijn
EU 2018/957 van het Europees Parlement en van de Raad van 28 juni 2018 tot wijziging van Richtlijn 96/71/EG
betreffende de terbeschikkingstelling van werknemers met het oog op het verrichten van diensten – Gevolggeving aan het advies
nr. 2147, NAR: Brussel.
NAR (2020), NAR-Advies nr. 2147 van 26 november 2019 betreffende de omzetting van Richtlijn EU 2018/957
van het Europees Parlement en van de Raad van 28 juni 2018 tot wijziging van Richtlijn 96/71/EG betreffende de
terbeschikkingstelling van werknemers met het oog op het verrichten van diensten, NAR: Brussel. Available at:
http://www.cnt-nar.be/ADVIES/advies-2147.pdf
Nevens, K. (2019), ‘Belgische rechtspraak over de Detacheringsrichtlijn nr. 96/71 en de ROME I-
verordening nr. 593/2008’, in H. Verschueren (ed.), Nieuwe ontwikkelingen in het Europees recht vanuit Belgisch
en Nederlands perspectief, die Keure: Brugge, pp. 97-146. Available at: https://www.diekeure.be/nl-
be/professional/10170/detachering
Pecinovsky, P. (2020), De omzetting van de herziene detacheringsrichtlijn in België door de wet van 12
juni 2020, Arbeidsrecht Journaal. Available at: https://arbeidsrechtjournaal.be/de-omzetting-van-de-
herziene-detacheringsrichtlijn-in-belgie-door-de-wet-van-12-juni-2020/
SIOD-SIRS (2022a), Strategisch plan 2022 – 2025, SIOD-SIRS, Brussel, available at:
https://www.siod.belgie.be/nl/news/strategisch-plan-2022-2025

68
 SIOD-SIRS (2022b), Jaarverslag sociale fraudebestrijding 2021 – Rapport annuel Lutte contre la fraude sociale 2021,
SIOD-SIRS : Brussel. Avaiable at: https://www.siod.belgie.be/sites/default/files/2022-
02/Jaarverslag%20Sociale%20Fraudebestrijding%202021%20-%20Summary%20_S.pdf
SIOD-SIRS (2021a), Jaarverslag sociale fraudebestrijding 2020 – Rapport annuel Lutte contre la fraude sociale 2020,
SIOD-SIRS : Brussel. Avaiable at:
https://www.siod.belgie.be/sites/default/files/Downloads/Jaarverslag%20SIOD/Jaarverslag%20Sociale
%20Fraudebestrijding%20Summary%202020.pdf
SIOD (2021b), Actieplan Sociale Fraudebestrijding 2021, SIOD : Brussel. Available at:
https://www.siod.belgie.be/nl/actieplan-strijd-tegen-de-sociale-fraude-en-sociale-dumping-2021
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE (2006), Background Note on GATS Mode 4
Measurement, UN: Geneva. Available at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/tfsits/TSGMode4/tsg3-
feb06/tsg0602-16.pdf
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE (2011b), Manual on Statistics of International
Trade in Services 2010, UN: Geneva. Available at:
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/seriesm/seriesm_86rev1e.pdf
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE (2018), Measuring International Labour
Mobility, UN: Geneva. Available at:
https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/publications/2018/ECECESSTAT20187_WEB.pdf
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE/(2011a), The Impact of Globalization on
National Accounts, UN: Geneva. Available at:
https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/publications/Guide_on_Impact_of_globalization_on_national
_accounts__web_.pdf
Verbrugge, B. & Gillis, D. (2022), Public procurement and human rights, HIVA-KU Leuven: Leuven.
Available at: https://hiva.kuleuven.be/en/research/theme/globaldevelopment/p/publications/PPandHR
Verschueren, H. (2021), Detachering binnen de Europese Unie: the story goes on, Tijdschrift voor Sociaal
Recht (TSR)/Revue de Droit Social (RDS), No. 4, pp. 639-701. Available at:
https://www.jurisquare.be/nl/journal/tsr_rds/index.html
Verschueren, H. (ed.) (2019), Detachering. Nieuwe ontwikkelingen in het Europees recht vanuit Belgisch en
Nederlands perspectief, die Keure: Brugge, 258 p. Available at: https://www.diekeure.be/nl-
be/professional/10170/detachering
Vlaamse Sociale Inspectie (2021), Jaarverslag Vlaamse Sociale Inspectie 2020, WSE: Brussels. Available at:
https://publicaties.vlaanderen.be/view-file/44666

69
COORDINATOR
HIVA - Research Institute for Work and Society, KU Leuven (BE)

PARTNERS
COMILLAS - Comillas Pontifical University (ES)
CUE - Cracow University of Economics (PL)
ELMI - European Labour Mobility Institute (PL)
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (AT)
ifo Institut – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich (DE)
LISER - Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LU)
PSE - Paris School of Economics (FR)
SEO – SEO Amsterdam Economics (NL)
UCLM - University of Castilla-La Mancha (ES)
UNIMI - University of Milan (IT)
UNISTRA - University of Strasbourg (FR)
ZRC SAZU - Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SI)

ASSOCIATE ORGANISATIONS
CEEMET - Council of European Employers of the Metal, Engineering and Technology-based industries (BE)
EFBWW - European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (BE)
ESIP - European Social Insurance Platform (BE)
EUROFEDOP - European Federation of Employees in Public Services (BE)