Specific rules on the posting of drivers

Who is a posted driver?

The specific rules for the posting of drivers in international carriage have been established by Directive (EU) 2020/1057 of the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter Directive 2020/1057). The special provisions established by Directive 2020/1057 have been extended to cases where a driver employed by a transport operator has been posted to the territory of another Member State to provide a service to a contracting party. The special provisions delimit carriage (including exceptions) where it is obligatory to comply with the posting requirements established by Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter Directive 96/71) and establish a uniform sector-based information system for the notification of posting (posting declarations).

European Labour Authority: Posted drivers - know your rights and obligations.

Questions and answers on the posting of drivers under Directive (EU) 2020/1057 in the context of transport of goods

Registration of posted drivers and submission of data

A posting declaration must be submitted to the competent authority of the country of posting no later than by the commencement of the posting, using the public interface of the Internal Market Information System (IMI), and it must be kept up to date.

The posting declaration must include the following:

the name and address of the driver’s employer as well as the Community licence number, if available;
the contact details of the transport manager of the driver’s employer or the person representing the employer;
the name, date of birth, residential address and driving licence number of the driver;
the start date of the driver’s contract of employment, and the law applicable to it;
the estimated start and end date of the posting;
the number plates of the motor vehicle;
whether the transport services performed are carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, international carriage or cabotage.

The Working Conditions of Employees Posted to Estonia Act is available at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/529032022006/consolide

The IMI public interface to submit a posting declaration: https://www.postingdeclaration.eu.

The user manual of the IMI public interface with videos and FAQs: https://www.postingdeclaration.eu/help.

The driver must have a copy of the posting declaration (paper or electronic form) and present it upon request.

Supervision

The Labour Inspectorate may initiate proceedings in order to supervise posted drivers, in which case the employer must respond to the request of the Labour Inspectorate within eight weeks and submit the following documents via the public interface of the Internal Market Information System (IMI):

evidence of the transport operations taking place in the host Member State, such as transport documents (i.e. the consignment note of the goods or an e-CMR);
the working and rest time data of tachographs as established by Regulations (EC) No 561/2006 and (EU) No 165/2014. According to the new use requirements of tachographs, as of 2 February 2022, drivers must record each crossing of the border of a Member State with their country code (Article 34(6) and (7) of Regulation (EC) No 165/2014;
documents on the remuneration of the driver during posting;
the contract of employment or an equivalent document;
the working time schedule regarding the driver’s work and the details of the driver’s remuneration.

Olulised sätted

From 2 February 2022, transport operators have to take into account the following:

Posted drivers must be ensured the minimum working conditions in the country they are posted to as established by Directive 96/71/EC. Minimum working conditions must be complied with if they are more favourable than the working conditions applicable in the employee’s home country.

For example, a posted employee must be paid the minimum wage of the country of posting (including pay for overtime, etc.) if it is higher than the employee’s usual wage.

Working conditions of employees posted to Estonia:

The following conditions apply to rental work: General conditions of rental work

Exceptions

Posting requirements do not apply if:

the driver passes through a country without loading or unloading goods and without picking up or setting down passengers (transit);
the driver is engaging in bilateral carriage of goods or passengers;
- in addition to performing a bilateral transport operation, the driver may perform one activity of loading and/or unloading (in the case of carriage of passengers, entering and exiting the vehicle), provided that the goods are not loaded and unloaded in the same Member State;
- in the case of a bilateral transport operation which starts from the Member State of establishment and for which no additional activity is performed, the exception of up to two additional loading and/or unloading activities applies to the return journey.

From 21 August 2023, the exceptions specified in clauses i and ii may only be carried out when using the SMART 2 tachograph.

Additional information and materials are available on the website of the European Commission.