Methodology and fact-checking: Posting of Workers

This page sets out the six rules of that method, from the order of sources to the correction of errors. The byline "Posting of Workers Editorial Team" on every guide links here.

The method covers EU law and the national posting regimes of 32 States: the 27 Member States, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The same method applies to every guide on the posting of workers in Europe.

Which Sources We Use and in What Order

We use primary sources only: the text of the law, the body that publishes or applies it, and the institution that issues the document. EU law comes first, read on EUR-Lex and cited by its CELEX number, in the consolidated version where one exists: Directive 96/71/EC is read as the consolidated text 01996L0071-20200730, which includes Directive (EU) 2018/957 and its corrigendum. National law comes next, from the gazette or official legal database, such as the German Arbeitnehmer-Entsendegesetz (AEntG, the Posted Workers Act) of 20 April 2009 or the Austrian Lohn- und Sozialdumping-Bekämpfungsgesetz (LSD-BG, the act against wage and social dumping) in the RIS legal database.

The seven source types are listed below in the order we consult them.

Where two official sources differ, the newer one wins. Secondary sources, such as law-firm notes, vendor pages and news reports, may point us to a change but never support a statement.

The Administrative Commission's Practical Guide on the applicable legislation is not legally binding, and the European Commission's Practical Guide on Posting is guidance too. A statement taken from either guide names the guide and is never written as law. The binding text remains the text of the Posting of Workers Directive and the national acts that transpose it.

How We Cite Every Regulatory Statement

Every regulatory statement names its instrument and the exact article as the act numbers it, for example Article 3(1a) of Directive 96/71/EC, Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 or § 18 AEntG. EU acts appear under their full type and number, such as Directive 2014/67/EU, never under a shorthand that changes the type of act. Judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union are cited by case number, name and date: C-202/97 Fitzwilliam Executive Search, judgment of 10 February 2000, CELEX 61997CJ0202.

Directives are cited with the national act that transposes them, because a Directive binds the Member States and employers are bound by national law. Member States had to transpose Directive 2014/67/EU by 18 June 2016 under its Article 23(1), so each country guide names its own act and section. Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and No 987/2009 apply directly in every Member State without national transposition (Article 288 TFEU), so an A1 guide cites the Regulation itself.

How We Date Statuses and Separate Today from 2 November 2028

Every status that can change carries the date on which we checked it, written as "as of" a day, and a pending proposal is always called pending, with its stage. Dates go on national portals, deadlines, fine levels, take-over statuses and proposals; an estimate keeps its own source and reference year. The proposed regulation on a public interface for posting declarations, COM(2024) 531 of 13 November 2024 (procedure 2024/0301(COD)), awaits the Council's first-reading position as of 5 November 2026, so no guide calls it adopted.

Regulation (EU) 2026/2359 of 7 October 2026 has been in force since 1 November 2026, while its new posting rules apply from 2 November 2028, so every affected guide says which rule applies today and which from that date. Its take-over by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland is pending as of 5 November 2026 (EEA-Lex), so no guide applies the 2028 rules there. Each amended article is listed under what the 2026 revision changes.

Two periods are never merged. Long-term posting under Article 3(1a) of Directive 96/71/EC starts after 12 months, or 18 months on a motivated notification (labour law); the A1 posting rule under Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 covers an anticipated duration of up to 24 months (social security). Every duration names its rule.

What We Leave Out Until a Primary Source Confirms It

A value we cannot confirm in a primary source is not published: we leave it out rather than hedge it with "reportedly" or "some sources say". Fees and processing times for the A1 appear only where the issuing institution publishes them. A figure published without a reference year is not given one. A missing value means that no primary source confirmed it on the check date.

National values known only from the European Commission's report on the application of Directive 2014/67/EU, COM(2019) 426 of 25 September 2019, are treated as 2019 report content and checked against current national law before they appear as current. Minimum wages appear only on a country page, as dated figures from the official source.

When We Review and Update a Page

A page is reviewed whenever one of its sources changes: an amending EU act, a decision of the Administrative Commission, a new judgment of the Court of Justice, a national law amendment or an update of the authority's own page. The Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems, established under Article 71 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, adopts the decisions that interpret the A1 rules, such as Decision No A2 of 12 June 2009, which interprets Article 12 of that Regulation.

The eight review triggers and what each one re-opens are listed in the table below.

The largest scheduled change is 2 November 2028, when the new posting rules of Regulation (EU) 2026/2359 apply. A review also follows each change of stage of a pending proposal, such as the next stage of COM(2024) 531.

How We Correct Errors

When a statement is wrong or out of date, we correct the page and show the date of the change. A correction replaces the wrong statement with the corrected one, names the primary source that supports it and updates the date on which the page was last checked.

Each error report is checked against the primary source and is not taken over as it stands, so a report changes a page only where the act, the gazette or the issuing institution supports the change. A report that names the official source can be checked against it directly.

What This Page Does Not Cover

This page covers how content is sourced and checked; it gives no legal advice and does not tell a named employer or worker which law applies to them. How the site stays independent of the providers who receive requests is set out in our editorial policy. The three other pages about the site are listed below.

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