Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services

• Published date: 30 July 2020
• Official Gazette Publication: Journal officiel des Communautés européennes, L 18, 21 janvier 1997,Gazzetta ufficiale delle Comunità europee, L 18, 21 gennaio 1997,Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas, L 18, 21 de enero de 1997

01996L0071 — EN — 30.07.2020 — 001.001

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►B DIRECTIVE 96/71/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (OJ L 018 21.1.1997, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/957 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL Text with EEA relevance of 28 June 2018	L 173	16	9.7.2018

Corrected by:

►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 091, 29.3.2019, p. 77 (2018/957)

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▼B

DIRECTIVE 96/71/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 16 December 1996

concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services

Article 1

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Subject-matter and scope

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-1. This Directive shall ensure the protection of posted workers during their posting in relation to the freedom to provide services, by laying down mandatory provisions regarding working conditions and the protection of workers’ health and safety that must be respected.

-1a. This Directive shall not in any way affect the exercise of fundamental rights as recognised in the Member States and at Union level, including the right or freedom to strike or to take other action covered by the specific industrial relations systems in Member States, in accordance with national law and/or practice. Nor does it affect the right to negotiate, to conclude and enforce collective agreements, or to take collective action in accordance with national law and/or practice.

▼B

1. This Directive shall apply to undertakings established in a Member State which, in the framework of the transnational provision of services, post workers, in accordance with paragraph 3, to the territory of a Member State.

2. This Directive shall not apply to merchant navy undertakings as regards seagoing personnel.

3. This Directive shall apply to the extent that the undertakings referred to in paragraph 1 take one of the following transnational measures:

(a)

post workers to the territory of a Member State on their account and under their direction, under a contract concluded between the undertaking making the posting and the party for whom the services are intended, operating in that Member State, provided there is an employment relationship between the undertaking making the posting and the worker during the period of posting; or

(b)

post workers to an establishment or to an undertaking owned by the group in the territory of a Member State, provided there is an employment relationship between the undertaking making the posting and the worker during the period of posting; or

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(c)

being a temporary employment undertaking or placement agency, hire out a worker to a user undertaking established or operating in the territory of a Member State, provided that there is an employment relationship between the temporary employment undertaking or placement agency and the worker during the period of posting.

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Where a worker who has been hired out by a temporary employment undertaking or placement agency to a user undertaking as referred to in point (c) is to carry out work in the framework of the transnational provision of services within the meaning of point (a), (b) or (c) by the user undertaking in the territory of a Member State other than where the worker normally works for the temporary employment undertaking or placement agency, or for the user undertaking, the worker shall be considered to be posted to the territory of that Member State by the temporary employment undertaking or placement agency with which the worker is in an employment relationship. The temporary employment undertaking or placement agency shall be considered to be an undertaking as referred to in paragraph 1 and shall fully comply with the relevant provisions of this Directive and Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ).

The user undertaking shall inform the temporary employment undertaking or placement agency which hired out the worker in due time before commencement of the work referred to in the second subparagraph.

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4. Undertakings established in a non-member State must not be given more favourable treatment than undertakings established in a Member State.

Article 2

Definition

1. For the purposes of this Directive, ‘posted worker’ means a worker who, for a limited period, carries out his work in the territory of a Member State other than the State in which he normally works.

2. For the purposes of this Directive, the definition of a worker is that which applies in the law of the Member State to whose territory the worker is posted.

Article 3

Terms and conditions of employment

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1. Member States shall ensure, irrespective of which law applies to the employment relationship, that undertakings as referred to in Article 1(1) guarantee, on the basis of equality of treatment, workers who are posted to their territory the terms and conditions of employment covering the following matters which are laid down in the Member State where the work is carried out:

—

by law, regulation or administrative provision, and/or

—

by collective agreements or arbitration awards which have been declared universally applicable or otherwise apply in accordance with paragraph 8:

(a)

maximum work periods and minimum rest periods;

(b)

minimum paid annual leave;

(c)

remuneration, including overtime rates; this point does not apply to supplementary occupational retirement pension schemes;

(d)

the conditions of hiring-out of workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment undertakings;

(e)

health, safety and hygiene at work;

(f)

protective measures with regard to the terms and conditions of employment of pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, of children and of young people;

(g)

equality of treatment between men and women and other provisions on non-discrimination;

(h)

the conditions of workers’ accommodation where provided by the employer to workers away from their regular place of work;

(i)

allowances or reimbursement of expenditure to cover travel, board and lodging expenses for workers away from home for professional reasons.

Point (i) shall apply exclusively to travel, board and lodging expenditure incurred by posted workers where they are required to travel to and from their regular place of work in the Member State to whose territory they are posted, or where they are temporarily sent by their employer from that regular place of work to another place of work.

For the purposes of this Directive, the concept of remuneration shall be determined by the national law and/or practice of the Member State to whose territory the worker is posted and means all the constituent elements of remuneration rendered mandatory by national law, regulation or administrative provision, or by collective agreements or arbitration awards which, in that Member State, have been declared universally applicable or...