International cooperation in connection with transnational unlawful employment illegal employment
Both international agreements and national legislation authorise the customs administration to investigate international cases.
Mutual administrative assistance
Information that is necessary for the fulfilment of an authority’s own duties and/or a foreign competent authorities’ inspection duties can be made available while observing the relevant data protection regulations in each case.
Legal foundations for transnational cooperation
Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (the Posting of Workers Directive) and Directive 2014/67/EU on the enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive
The purpose of the Posting of Workers Directive is to remove those obstacles and uncertainties that hinder the achievement of the freedom to supply services. It provides more legal certainty, and makes it possible to determine which minimum terms and conditions of employment apply to workers who are temporarily employed in a Member Stateother than the one under whose legislation the workers’ employment as such falls. Article 4 provides for the cooperation of the authorities which monitor the terms and conditions of employment listed in the Posted Workers Directive.
Pursuant to Article 4 of the Directive, the Member States designate liaison offices or competent national bodies. The competent liaison body for Germany is the Directorate VII of the Central Customs Authority.
Under Article 6 of the Directive on enforcement, cooperation consists in particular in replying to these authorities’ reasoned requests concerning the transnational supply of workers, including manifest infringements of the applicable legal provisions and suspected situations of unlawful transnational employment.
The German Health Insurance liaison office - international service - [Deutsche Verbindungsstelle Krankenversicherung - Ausland (DVKA)] can provide the relevant information for postings from Germanyto other Member States.
DVKA (in German)
Regulation (EC) No--Number 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and the associated implementing provisions laid down in Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 coordinate national social security legislations, serving to prevent double insurance on the one hand, and on the other, to protect the social security rights of individuals who migrate from one state to another within the EU.
Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 the German customs continues to be responsible for monitoring the social security legislation applicable to the transnational provision of services.
Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems
Regulation laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, and the associated Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 laying down the procedure for its implementation in relation to EU Member States, have been in force since 1 Mai 2010.
In order to show the previous coordination regulations more understandably and more clearly, the Regulations (EEC) No 1408/71 and No 574/72 that were in force until 30 April 2010 have largely been succeeded by the new regulations.
Since 1 January 2011, Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 laying down the procedure for its implementation have also been applicable to citizens of third states who fall within the scope of European legislation. Excepted are postings of third country workers from Denmarkand Great Britain.
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 laying down the procedure for its implementation have been applicable to citizens of Switzerland since 1 April 2012, and to citizens of the EEA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway since 1 June 2012. Excepted are postings of third country workers who are legally resident in an EU Member State, in Switzerland, or in the EEA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.
Judicial assistance
Where pre-trial procedures are directly connected with the scope of inspection laid down in Section 2 (1) of the Act to Combat Undeclared Work and Unlawful Employment (Schwarzarbeitsbekämpfungsgesetz - SchwarzArbG), the circumstances of any transnational illicit work and unlawful employment can be investigated in cooperation with foreign investigative and judicial authorities through mutual police and judicial assistance procedures.
Cooperation with counterparts in other states
The Directorate VII of the Central Customs Authority and its counterparts are continuously exchanging information concerning the manifestations of clandestine employment, methods of how to combat it, preventive actions, and the developments in relevant legislation.
Bilateral cooperation agreements
The purpose of these agreements is to intensify cooperation in combating social security contribution and benefit fraud in employment and in unregistered employment, and the illegal transnational supply of workers.
Appropriate bilateral agreements on cooperation have been concluded so far with France, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Austria and the Netherlands.
Agreement with France (in German)PDF | 55 KB
Treaty with Bulgaria (in German)PDF | 127 KB
Agreement with the Czech Republic (in German)PDF | 217 KB
State Treaty with Austria (in German)PDF | 2 MB
State Treaty with the Netherlands (in German)PDF | 158 KB
