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Council and Parliament agree on digital declaration system for posted workers
The Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on the regulation to facilitate the e-declaration of posted workers. The regulation will reduce the administrative burden for businesses by fully digitalising the submission of posting declarations and for national authorities by facilitating the monitoring of the compliance with the posting of workers directive.
A 'posted worker' is a worker sent by the employer to provide a service in another member state on a temporary basis.
The provisional agreement reached today introduces improvements on the scope of the regulation, the requirements and the contents of the standardised e-declaration, and on the efficacy of the platform.
This agreement is one of the first deliverables of the 'One Europe, One Market' roadmap.
The agreement reached today marks a significant step towards a more integrated and competitive Single Market. This is one of the first legislative files provisionally agreed with the European Parliament under the ‘One Europe, One Market’ roadmap. With these new rules facilitating the e-declaration of posted workers, Europe is removing unnecessary barriers, harnessing the potential of digital tools, and creating a simpler, more transparent framework for cross-border services that benefits businesses, workers, and administrations alike.
Michael Damianos, Minister of energy, commerce and industry of the Republic of Cyprus
Facilitating the posting of workers
The regulation requires the Commission to create a multilingual public interface for companies to declare the posting of workers. Member states can choose to use this interface instead of their national systems, but once they opt in, they must exclusively use it without requiring additional declarations.
Main elements of the agreement
The deal reached today supports the main objectives of the regulation, namely, reducing administrative burden to facilitate the freedom to provide services; improving compliance with Union legislation to protect posted workers’ rights; and enhancing administrative cooperation between member states.
Scope
The agreement keeps the voluntary nature of the system and limits its scope to company workers posted in another member state, as foreseen in the EU Posted Workers Directive (PWD). Member states will be allowed to use the public interface for the declarations submitted by third country service providers when sending workers on a temporary basis.
Standard form
The agreement reached today tasks the Commission to adopt a standard online form for these declarations, with a common set of information requirements agreed by the co-legislators. Member states using the standard form cannot request more data, although they can decide not to require all the specified information. Five years after its implementation of the regulation, the Commission should conduct an evaluation to examine whether the information requirements in the standard form are still fit for purpose.
New functionalities of the platform
The provisional agreement introduces a new functionality in the public interface, allowing service providers to upload the relevant documents for posting workers. This would replace pre-existing national procedures for the submission of documents.
The system will also include features for the technical validation of data, communication between competent authorities and service providers, and access for posted workers to receive electronic extracts of their declarations, while respecting personal data protection rules.
Next steps
The provisional agreement now needs to be endorsed and formally adopted by both institutions.
Background
Burdensome procedures for temporary posted workers was identified in the single market strategy as one of the top ten barriers (what is otherwise known as ‘terrible ten’) that hampered mobility within the EU. Moreover, the report on the internal market by former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, (‘Much more than a market’) highlighted the immense potential of digitalisation to promote fair mobility and simplify compliance with the posting of workers’ rules. He called for a single, electronic format for declarations that would reduce the administrative burden on businesses while respecting workers' rights.
On 24 April 2026, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission signed the 'One Europe, One Market' roadmap. This agreement sets out a clear list of priority actions to be completed by the end of 2027. The first measure under this roadmap is the e-declaration system for posted workers, which has a deadline of June 2026.
According to the European labour authority (ELA), approximately 3.6 million postings involving around 2.6 million workers are estimated in the EU. Around 1.2 million workers are active in two or more member states. The Commission estimates that companies can save 73% of the time required to complete posting declarations using the electronic standard form, compared to the average time currently required across the EU, and the cost savings for the burden reduction for service providers posting workers is estimated to be 58% compared to the current situation, even with the participation of a limited number of member states. If all 27 member states were to decide to join this initiative, the burden reduction at EU level would further increase to 81% compared to the current situation.
