Key Benefits:
President of the Republic,
On the report of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs,
Considering the Constitution, in particular articles 52 to 55;
Vu la Act No. 2009-1793 of 31 December 2009 authorizing the approval of the administrative cooperation agreement to combat illegal work and respect for social law in the event of cross-border movement of workers and services between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
Vu le Decree No. 53-192 of 14 March 1953 amended on the ratification and publication of international commitments undertaken by France,
Decrete:
The administrative cooperation agreement between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on combating illegal work and respecting social law in the event of cross-border movement of workers and services, signed in Paris on 15 May 2007, will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs are responsible for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
A C C O R D
OF ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ROYAL OF COUNTRIES-BAS PORTING ON THE ILLEGAL WORK AND RESPECT OF THE SOCIAL LAW IN THE TRANSBOUNDARY INFORMATION OF WORKERS AND SERVICES
The Government of the French Republic, on the one hand, and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on the other hand, hereafter referred to as the Parties,
for the purposes of:
allow the development of service delivery and labour movements between France and the Netherlands under conditions that ensure:
the protection of the rights of employees,
– fair competition between companies,
– legal security of contractual relationships between law enforcement and service providers,
to implement:
- the resolution of the European Council of 22 April 1999 (1999/C 125/01) on a code of conduct for better cooperation between the authorities of the Member States in the fight against transnational fraud in social security benefits and contributions and undeclared work and concerning the transnational provision of workers,
– Council resolution of 20 October 2003 (2003/C 260/01) on the transformation of undeclared work into regular employment,
― the European Commission's preconizations on cooperation between Member States, set out in its communication of 4 April 2006 on the detachment of workers carried out in the context of a service provision, including those who invite them to take the necessary measures to ensure that their liaison offices and/or supervisory authorities are equipped with the means to effectively respond to requests for information and cross-border cooperation from the competent authorities of the other Member States, by complying with the Directive
agreed that:
Article 1
Purpose of cooperation
The purpose of this Agreement is to organize the cooperation between the administrative departments of the Parties which are responsible for the fight against illegal work, with regard to, on the one hand, the conduct of actions to prevent social fraud committed on the occasion of the placement or detachment of workers of one of the two States in the other State and, on the other hand, the facilitation of the control of legislation concerning illegal work and applicable social legislation.
The cooperation activities carried out in this dual capacity cover the following areas:
- the verification of the application of the provisions of Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the detachment of workers carried out as part of a service provision (hereinafter "Guideline 96/71/EC"),
― the fight against concealed work, especially when it results from the abusive use of the legal regime of detachment within the meaning of Directive 96/71/EC on the detachment of workers and Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council, dated 14 June 1971, concerning the application of social security schemes to wage workers and their families travelling within the Community (hereinafter "Regulation 1408/71"),
– the fight against abusive labour placement practices,
– the fight against fraud in income replacement for labour income,
– the fight against employment without a job title of foreign nationals who do not have free access to the national labour market.
Prevention cooperation
Article 2
Purpose of joint preventive actions
As part of the prevention of illegal work, Parties are committed to developing their cooperation to jointly carry out information and awareness-raising actions for companies and employees who may be affected by detachment or placement of workers in the context of transnational services.
These actions include ensuring, in their language and in various media, easy access to the knowledge of their respective rights and obligations, as well as practical information that allows them to know the legal conditions of the host country in which they can intervene in a safe and secure manner and to work in them with their rights.
They also involve the organization of awareness-raising activities of the economic and social actors concerned with the interest they can find in respect of their rights and obligations in social matters when they intervene or are detached to the other State as well as the risks of any order they are taking in case of lack of knowledge of the applicable legislation.
Article 3
Organization of joint prevention activities
Partial preventive actions may be the subject of a multi-year programme whose content and practical modalities of implementation and funding are proposed at the initiative of the most diligent and mutually agreed Party as part of the periodic bilateral cooperation assessment meetings referred to in Article 7 below.
The status of the program and the results of the program are subject to a common periodic evaluation according to which the program may be adjusted for its content or terms of implementation.
Cooperation to facilitate control
Article 4
Exchange of administrative information
The institutions involved in active participation in the exchange of administrative information under this Agreement are:
For France:
― the DILTI as the administrative cooperation office of the French Liaison Office under Article 4 of Directive 96/71/EC,
― the Labour Inspectorate services of the ministries responsible for labour, transport and agriculture respectively;
For the Netherlands:
– Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment,
― Labour Inspectorate ( Liaison Office, as provided for in section 4 of Directive 96/71/EC),
– Social Intelligence and Investigation Service (STI)
– the Institute of Social Insurance Management for Workers (UWV) (the central contact point for workers' social security regulations and social assistance regulations),
– Social Insurance Bank (SVB) (the central contact point for social security regulations for residents).
The Dutch and French liaison offices, however, remain the single point of contact required by each Party to receive and transmit all information from or addressed to the other Party, respectively, to ensure the necessary links with national institutions specifically concerned.
If the liaison office seized the request for information or information for the processing and settlement of a file does not have the required data and another agency among the competent and participating offices has that information, the application is directed to the other agency. The requesting body is informed.
Each Party undertakes to communicate to the other Party, on the basis of the reasoned request of the other Party, as soon as possible and in any event in accordance with the deadline set out in the European Code of Conduct attached to the cooperation standard (4 weeks), any useful administrative information that can be used to verify the legality of detachment or labour placement operations under the French law and the Dutch law, as appropriate. This information may concern either companies, or workers who are seconded or placed, within the limits necessary for this control.
Each Party undertakes to inform the other Party of the reasons for delay in the processing of the request and to take into account the urgency that would be reported to it.
An application is not processed
(a) to the extent that treatment would require disproportionate administrative work,
(b) to the extent that its treatment is contrary to national legislation.
The support for these exchanges is preferably the standard of cooperation whose content was validated at the meeting of the expert group on the application of Directive 96/71/EC held in Brussels on 10 November 2005. This standard can however be completed as needed.
Article 5
Exploitation of information received
Each Party shall inform the other Party of the actions it has given to the information received.
Where the liaison office of a Party is aware of information to establish, in particular as a result of a request for information from its counterpart to the other Party, that the conditions of the detachment of employed workers under the Community provisions on social security are not met, it shall simultaneously inform the liaison office of the other Party and the social security organizations of the two Parties.
Article 6
Staff training
In order to enable their agents to better understand the functioning of the administration of the partner country and to enhance the effectiveness of bilateral administrative cooperation, including through the confrontation and reconciliation of views and practices on matters of common interest, the two Parties agree to welcome, at their request, agents of the partner State for observation and information courses conducted in one of their monitoring services or within their administration responsible for the functions of the liaison office. The modalities and practical conditions for the organization of these courses are subject to special arrangements.
Such exchanges are of priority to agents with an active role in the implementation of this Agreement.
The cost of transportation, restoration and accommodation of any agent concerned is borne by its original administration.
Article 7
Evaluation and adaptation of exchange procedures
Each Party undertakes to prepare a quantitative and qualitative annual review of the implementation of the agreement, and to share with its counterpart the implementation difficulties it may encounter.
This will eventually be accompanied by proposals to address the difficulties encountered.
In the event that one of the Parties considers it useful and at least once every two years, the Parties, at the initiative of the French Liaison Office and the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, are organizing a bilateral meeting in order to find solutions to the operational difficulties of the cooperation that they might have encountered and to consider the proposals made by each Party to adapt the above-mentioned exchange procedures as appropriate. In addition to the representatives of the two liaison offices, those of the other institutions referred to in Article 4 of this Agreement may be invited to participate in this meeting if this participation is useful in achieving the objectives of this Agreement.
These meetings may also be devoted to reviewing the content of a joint fraud prevention program referred to in Article 3 of this Agreement.
Article 8
Final clauses
Each Party shall inform the other of the fulfilment of the internal procedures required for the entry into force of this Agreement that takes effect on the day on which the second information is received.
This Agreement shall be concluded for an indefinite period.
It may be denounced by each Party by means of a written notification to the other Party. This denunciation takes effect three months after its notification.
Done in Paris, May 15, 2007.
In two original copies, in French and Dutch, both texts being equally authentic.
For the Government
of the French Republic:
Minister Delegate
employment, work
and insertion
young people
of the French Republic,
Gérard Larcher
For the Government
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
Minister of Social Affairs
and employment
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
Jan Pieter Hendrik Donner
Done in Paris, October 21, 2010.
Nicolas Sarkozy
By the President of the Republic:
The Prime Minister,
François Fillon
Minister for Foreign Affairs
and European,
Bernard Kouchner
