The free movement of workers is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Treaty on European Union.

A worker is ‘posted’ when they are employed in one Member State but are sent for a limited period by their employer to work in another Member State. This transnational provision of services, if employees are sent to work in a Member State other than that in which they habitually carry out their work, gives rise to a new category of ‘posted workers’.

In order to guarantee that the labour rights and conditions are protected for a posted worker within the EU, and in order to avoid ‘social dumping’ where international services providers can provide cheaper services than local providers on account of the low cost of their work, European Community legislation has established a nucleus of binding rules on terms and conditions of employment, which also apply to a worker posted to another Member State to work. These rules reflect the standard of local workers in the host Member State (namely that in which the worker is sent to work).

Law No 16 of 2017 on the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational provision of services, as subsequently amended and supplemented, is applicable to undertakings established in a Member State of the EU/EEA that post employees with whom they have established employment relationships to Romania. The term ‘posting’ can be used in the following situations:

• when an employer from a Member State of the EU posts an employee to the territory of Romania on behalf of and under the coordination of the undertaking, on the basis of a contract concluded between the undertaking doing the posting and the beneficiary for whom the services are intended, operating in Romania, provided there is an employment relationship between the employee and the undertaking doing the posting during the period of posting;
• when an employer from a Member State of the EU posts an employee to an establishment located in Romania or to an undertaking owned by a group of undertakings in Romania, provided there is an employment relationship between the employee and the undertaking doing the posting during the period of posting;

• when a temporary employment agency or placement agency (pursuant to Article 87 of the Labour Code) hires out an employee to a user established or operating in Romania, for the period for the period necessary to perform a specific task of a temporary nature, provided there is an employment relationship between the employee and the temporary employment agency or placement agency during the period of posting.

It is a requirement for posting that the employment relationship between the employer and the posted worker during the period of posting is maintained.

Employees posted to Romania benefit from the employment conditions provided for in Romanian legislation and/or in collective bargaining agreements negotiated at national or industry level, such as the maximum number of working hours and minimum rest period, the minimum number of paid annual holidays, minimum wage, including overtime rates, and conditions for hiring out workers, including by temporary employment undertakings.

National legislation also covers aspects related to health and safety at work, protection measures applicable to conditions of employment for pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, and for children and young people, as well as equal treatment of women and men and non-discrimination issues.

For the purpose of implementing Law No 16 of 2017 on the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational provision of services, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the Labour Inspectorate is the public authority assigned to act as a liaison office, exchanging information with the competent institutions from the Member States of the European Union, the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation.

As part of this cooperation, the Labour Inspectorate responds to reasoned requests for information from these institutions regarding the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational provision of services, including inquiries about abuses or cases of transnational activities deemed to be illegal.

Where they consider that their rights have been violated as regards the terms and conditions of employment, workers posted in accordance with this law and/or their representatives may refer to the Labour Inspectorate.

Moreover, if employees posted in accordance with Law No 16 of 2017 on the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational provision of services, as subsequently amended and supplemented, consider that their rights regarding the terms and conditions of employment have been violated, they may refer to the competent courts in Romania or to the courts in another country pursuant to the international conventions on jurisdiction in force.

Undertakings established in the territory of a Member State of the EU and posting employees to the territory of Romania have the obligation to send a declaration on the transnational posting of employees to the regional labour inspectorate in the area where the work is to be carried out (the template of which is set out in the annex to the detailed implementing rules, in Romanian), at least one working day before the commencement of work.

Annexes can be sent: by post in person, to the institution’s secretariat, or by email.

The specific procedure for posting employees to Romania, in the framework of the transnational provision of services, is regulated by Government Decision No 337/2017 approving the detailed implementing rules on the posting of employees to Romania in the framework of the transnational provision of services.

Pursuant to Law No 16 of 2017 on the posting of workers in the framework of the transnational provision of services, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the Labour Inspectorate provides the information requested by the competent authorities in the Member States or the European Commission, by electronic means, within the following time limits:

• within not more than two working days of receipt of the request, in particular as regards verification of the existence of the establishment of the undertaking referred to in Article 3(b) in Romania, in cases of urgency, as reasoned and detailed in the request, which require only consulting national registers;
• within not more than 25 working days of receipt of the request, for all other requests for information, except where the competent authorities mutually agree to set a shorter reply time limit.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the Labour Inspectorate are the national authorities providing general information to posted employees and undertakings in connection with national legislation and practice applicable to them in terms of their rights and obligations in Romania.