Key takeaways
- Twenty-eight trucks were seized during an inspection of a Romanian transport company operating from Kortenberg.
- Eight drivers were questioned as potential victims.
- Belgian authorities are investigating possible exploitation and social fraud.
The Belgian Labour Inspectorate’s Directorate for Transport, part of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, carried out the inspection on Sunday, 6 September, with the local HerKo police.
According to police information reported by Belgian media, several drivers were found at the site and some had been staying in their trucks for several weeks. Eight were questioned in detail about their employment, wages and working conditions.
Leen Symons of HerKo police said the first findings contained serious indications of possible exploitation and social fraud. In particular, investigators suspect that workers may in practice have earned less than the statutory minimum remuneration to which they were entitled.
All 28 trucks belonging to the company that were present were seized. The case is now being followed by the Leuven labour prosecutor, while the investigation continues. Authorities have not publicly identified the Romanian company.
Romanian company, Belgian operations: which pay rules apply?
The fact that the company is Romanian does not in itself determine which employment rules apply to every journey.
EU rules introduced specifically for road transport mean that drivers carrying out certain operations in another Member State can be treated as posted workers. Belgium requires employers posting drivers to comply with the applicable Belgian employment conditions for the work covered by the posting rules.
Belgian authorities can request employment contracts, tachograph records, working-time records, payslips and proof that wages were actually paid in order to check compliance.
Belgium also has a specific collective-agreement framework covering mobile workers in road transport and logistics for third parties. Where those Belgian conditions apply to a posted driver, the relevant wage scales and other mandatory remuneration provisions must be respected.
Not every international journey constitutes a posting. EU road-transport rules distinguish, for example, between bilateral international operations and activities such as cabotage and certain cross-trade operations. The authorities have not yet disclosed enough information about the Kortenberg company’s transport activities to establish which rules are at issue in this case.
Union calls for more checks on foreign hauliers
Belgian transport union BTB-ABVV said the case reinforced its longstanding demand for increased enforcement against social dumping. Union president Frank Moreels argued that companies complying with the rules were not seeking preferential treatment but fair competitive conditions, which required detecting and sanctioning companies committing fraud.
The union is calling for more labour inspectors with specialist road-transport knowledge, better coordinated checks on foreign transport companies operating structurally from Belgium, faster follow-up of suspected abuses and tougher sanctions for organised social fraud.
It also wants greater accountability for customers that use non-compliant subcontractors.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the allegations against the company have not yet been tested in court.
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