Employers posting workers to Finland have an obligation to give notification of this

Any foreign company posting workers to Finland must provide notification of this to the occupational safety and health authorities before work is commenced. This advance notification must be made when the posting of workers is based on a contract made after 18 June 2016 and the work to be performed by the posted workers begins after 1 September 2017.

The obligation to notify relates to all workers covered by the provisions of the Act on Posting Workers. This means all workers that a foreign employer (the ‘posting undertaking’) posts to Finland for a limited period on the basis of a contract concerning the cross-border provision of services as subcontracted work, as temporary agency work or as an internal transfer within a group of undertakings.

A notification of the posting of workers is not required if the employer is posting workers to Finland by means of an internal transfer within a group of undertakings for no more than five working days. The calculation of the number of days must include not only the period of the posting in question but also all other periods in the four months preceding the end of the posting during which the worker transferred internally by the same group of undertakings was working in Finland. However, this exemption does not apply to building work. In the case of building work notification must always be submitted before work is performed.

The following information must be provided for each employee posted to Finland:

  • identification details
  • a personal identification number and tax identification number of the State of residence
  • beginning and end dates or anticipated end date
  • place or places of work
  • in the construction sector the tax number issued by the Finnish Tax Administration.

This information may be provided either at the beginning of the posting in one notification or by several notifications at the latest before the beginning of the posting.

Further information: Notification duty (tyosuojelu.fi, Osha)

Content of notification

The notification must include the following:

  • the identification details of the posting undertaking, its contact information, foreign tax identification number and information on the responsible persons appointed in accordance with the legislation of the Member State in which the posting undertaking is established;
  • the identification details and contact information of the contractor;
  • in the case of building work in the construction sector, the identification details and contact information of the builder and the general (main) contractor and the tax number of the posted worker issued by the Finnish Tax Administration;
  • the personal data necessary for the identification of each posted worker, his or her personal identification number and the tax identification number of the State of residence and the beginning and end dates of the posting or the anticipated end date;
  • the identification details of the posting undertaking’s representative in Finland and his or her contact information in Finland, or details of the grounds under which no representative need be appointed;
  • the location or locations where the work will be performed;
  • the sector in which the posted worker will work.

If the previously notified information changes significantly, the posting undertaking must submit a supplementary notification immediately the changes take place. The provision of such a supplementary notification is a requirement for the work to continue.

In the case of building work, this supplementary notification must also be submitted to the builder and the general (main) contractor before work can be performed; the same applies to the advance notification.

Notifications about the posting of workers may be submitted to the occupational safety and health authorities using the online form. 

Negligence fee

A negligence fee may be imposed if the posting undertaking has not submitted a notification about posted workers, if there is a deficiency in the notification or if significant changes have occurred but the posting undertaking has not submitted a supplementary notification of these. The exact amount of the negligence fee, which is a minimum of EUR 1,000 but no more than EUR 10,000, will be determined by the occupational safety and health authorities.