FINLAND: New Notification Requirements for Posted Workers

August 31, 2017


Effective 1st September 2017, companies posting employees for assignments in Finland will have new notification requirements.

Finland has become the latest European Union member nation to revise its national laws and procedures to transpose the EU Posted Worker Enforcement Directive (2014/67/EU).

Both the new Act on Posting Workers (447/2016) and the old Posted Workers Act (1146/1999) apply to posted workers. Note that the old act will still apply to posted workers when the new act comes into force if these workers have been posted to Finland based on a contract that concluded before 18th June 2016.

Notification Requirement

Effective 1st September 2017, any company posting a foreign worker on an assignment in Finland must submit notification of the posting to the Finish Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSH) prior to the start of the assignment, online via the electronic form on the OSH website here.

  • “Postings” include those instances where a foreign employee is assigned through internal transfers or assignments within a group of companies (an intra-company transfer), temporary agency work, and cross-border contract work, including subcontracted work.
  • The notification is contractor- and workplace-specific, that is, if the job is done in several locations or for several contractors a separate notification must be made for each of them.
  • Notification is not required when workers are transferred within a group of companies for up to five days in a four-month period. This exemption does not apply to companies in the construction sector.
  • In the construction sector, a subcontractor must also notify the builder and the main contractor of the posting.

Information that must be included in the notification includes:

  • Identifying details of the company, contact information, foreign tax identification number, and information on the responsible persons of the posting company in the country where the company is established;
  • Identifying details and contact information of the contractor;
  • Identifying details and contact information of the builder and the main contractor for companies in the construction sector;
  • Estimated number of posted workers;
  • Identifying details and contact information of the postings company´s representative in Finland, or information indicating why a representative must not be selected;
  • Starting date of the posting of workers and the estimated duration of the posting;
  • Place where the work will be carried out; and
  • Branch in which the worker will work.

In the event that any of the information in the initial notification changes significantly, a subsequent notification must be submitted immediately.

Should the company fail to either submit the initial notification, or any subsequent notification of changes, the OSH may impose a penalty of EUR €1,000 to €10,000.

More information can be found here.

Our Advice

Companies posting foreign national employees to Finland should consult their Newland Chase immigration specialist to ensure that they comply with the new notification requirements.

For advice and information on Finnish immigration in general, please email us at [email protected].

This information was provided by our sister company, Peregrine Immigration Management.