EU agrees on portal to cut construction fraud

EU negotiators have agreed on a new voluntary e-declaration portal for posted workers, aimed at cutting red tape for legitimate companies while making it harder to exploit workers across borders.

EU negotiators have reached a deal on a new voluntary e-declaration portal for the posting of workers. The portal is designed to make compliance easier for legitimate companies while strengthening authorities’ ability to combat cross-border labour crime.

The portal will facilitate information sharing between member states’ authorities, provide better analytical data to the European Labour Authority, and make it easier to detect cross-border schemes used to circumvent rules on labour law, wages and social security.

– Legitimate companies should face less bureaucracy. At the same time, it must become harder for rogue companies to cheat, undercut wages and exploit workers, says Johan Danielsson (S), the European Parliament’s lead negotiator.

Around half of all postings within the EU take place in the construction sector, where labour crime and long chains of subcontractors are particularly common.