Denmark’s new posted worker rules will be strictly enforced in just a fortnight’s time, when the grace period for punishments ends on March 31st.
Since January 1st 2021, all carriers and hauliers, both Danish and foreign, have had to pay their drivers at least DKK 164.96 (22.15 euros) an hour while they are working in Denmark. This includes cabotage operations.
In order to ensure compliance with the regulations, foreign companies that want to operate in the country have to report each transport service in advance to the Danish Commercial Authority online via a new system dedicated to foreign transport. The service can be accessed here.
However, the Danish Transport Authority agreed with the National Police that the new rules would merely represent a “guiding principle” for the first 3 months. The reason for the grace period was that the rules were published rather quickly, which didn’t give companies much time to adjust to the new regulations.
As a result, anyone found breaking the rules since the start of the year has simply been given a verbal warning.
This approach shall nonetheless end as of April 1st. Kirsten Søndergaard Munck, Office Manager at the Danish Transport Authority, confirmed this yesterday:
We have had an agreement that the police have acted as a guide for the first three months after the rules came into force. It is a practice that we generally have good experience with, and which has given the industry time to adapt to the new conditions; but the rules will be enforced from April 1st.
Photo credit: Rigspolitiet