Employer / Self-employed person

I am self-employed. Does this mean I have to notify?

The duty to notify applies only to self-employed persons working in a number of designated sectors. To determine which sector you work in, refer to the activities you perform in the Netherlands and to the above criteria. You can find the sector your work comes under on the website of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, in Dutch and English.

The sector in which you work is assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

  • The nature of the work actually carried out;
  • The activities and work as described in the assignment contract, service agreement or transport contract;
  • The SBI code assigned to the self-employed person on the basis of their economic activities (SBI is the Dutch version of the General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within The European Communities, or NACE); and
  • The location where the work is carried out.

You have a duty to notify if you work in the following sectors or subsectors. These designated sectors or subsectors are identified by the following classifications in the Standaard Bedrijfsindeling (SBI):

A Agriculture, forestry and fishing, division and class:

  • 10.1 Slaughterhouses and processing of meat;
  • 10.2 Processing of fish;
  • 10.3 Processing of potatoes, vegetables and fruit;
  • 23 Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products;
  • 24 Manufacture of basic metals;
  • 25 Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment;
  • 27 Manufacture of electrical equipment;
  • 28 Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.;
  • 30 Manufacture of other transport equipment;
  • 33 Repair and installation of machinery and equipment.

F Construction

H Transportation and storage, group:

  • 49.4 Freight transport by road, unless the temporary work consists exclusively of transporting goods through the Netherlands without loading or unloading in the Netherlands.

I Accommodation and food service activities

N Renting and leasing of tangible goods and other business support services, groups:

  • 81.2 Cleaning activities;
  • 81.3 Landscape service activities.

Q Human health and social work activities, groups:

  • 86.1 Hospitals including mental health and substance abuse hospitals;
  • 87.1 Residential nursing care;
  • 87.2 Residential and day care for mental retardation;
  • 87.3 Residential and day care for the disabled and elderly;
  • 87.9 Social assistance with residential care to children and other persons (no elderly and disabled);
  • 88.1 Social work activities without accommodation for the elderly and disabled;
  • 88.9 Social work activities without accommodation (not for elderly and disabled).

Administrative obligations

Under the WagwEU, self-employed persons with a duty to notify from the EU, EEA or Switzerland have a number of obligations:

  • The duty to notify: self-employed persons with a duty to notify from the countries above have a duty to announce their work in the Netherlands. They must make their notification before the work commences, through the Dutch online notification portal. The service recipient is required to review whether the posting is correctly notified. If the notification is incorrect or missing, then the service recipient must report this through the notification portal.
  • The obligation to have certain documents available in the workplace that show the following:
    • personal identity;
    • the identity of the service recipient;
    • the identity of the person responsible for paying the wage;

On ending the work, these documents must remain available for five years; the Inspectorate SZW may request access to them.

  • The information obligation: on request from the Inspectorate SZW, the Inspectorate must be provided with all information needed for enforcement of the WagwEU.

These obligations have been introduced in order to prevent false self-employment. False self-employment is when a self-employed person is engaged by a service recipient, but is actually in employment.

The Inspectorate SZW may impose an administrative fine for non-compliance with the duty to notify, the obligation to have documents available or the information obligation.