Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2020/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council [1] of 2 February 2022, a transport operator engaged in carriage of goods or passengers in another Member State of the European Union (EU) (between EU Member States other than the operator’s country of establishment or from an EU Member State where the operator is not established to a third country and vice versa, as well as cabotage operations) is obliged to send a posting declaration to the EU Member State to which the driver is posted via the Road transport posting declaration portal [2] before the start of the posting period.

Posting of drivers is a situation:

1. where an operator established in another EU Member State, who provides international road transport services, posts a driver employed by that operator during the period of the posting to Latvia;
2. an operator registered in Latvia, who provides international road transport services, posts a driver employed by that operator during the period of posting to another EU Member State to drive the operator’s vehicle and carry out other operations related to the relevant road transport service on the operator’s behalf.

A driver is not considered to be posted in cases where:

1. another EU Member State is transited;
2. there is a bilateral transport operation to or from the operator’s country of establishment;
3. there is a bilateral transport operation involving one additional loading and/or unloading operation or the picking up/setting down of passengers in another EU Member State or a third country, provided that the cargo is not loaded/unloaded or passengers are not picked up/set down in the same country;
4. there is a bilateral transport operation on a return journey to the operator’s country of establishment, as part of which no more than two loading and/or unloading operations or passenger picking up/setting down operations in EU Member States or third countries take place, provided that the cargo is not loaded or unloaded in the same country and that no additional loading and/or unloading operation or passenger picking up/setting down activity has been carried out in the course of the bilateral onward transport operation;
5. a driver is performing the initial or final road leg of a combined transport operation, if it includes international bilateral transport operations. It should be noted that when such transport operation is carried out in Denmark or Sweden, the driver is considered to be posted;
6. he/she is self-employed, having regard to Article 2(1) of Directive 96/71/EC and Article 1(2) of Directive 2020/1057. As is well known, the provisions of both Directives apply to posted workers. However, pursuant to Article 2(2) of Directive 96/71/EC, the definition of ‘a worker’ is that which applies in the law of the Member State to whose territory the worker is posted. Thus, in practice, there are situations when Member States initiate legal proceedings if they establish that the posted self-employed person qualifies for a status of a worker in accordance with their national as well as EU legal acts. Self-employment is then deemed to be fictive and a person is classified as a worker with all the consequences that follow.

Information to be included in the country-specific posting declaration:

1. details of the operator’s company;
2. the operator’s contact person for cooperation with the competent authorities;
3. the driver’s data;
4. information on the employment contract;
5. the planned start and end date of posting;
6. national registration plates of vehicles to be used by the driver to carry out transport operations during the posting period;
7. information on the type of transport operations.

The posting declaration must be submitted separately for each driver and separately for each country to which that driver will be posted during the relevant period.

 The operator must provide the driver with the following documents (either in paper or electronic form) which the driver is required to keep and produce on request to the staff of the controlling authorities:

1. a copy of the posting declaration submitted via the road transport posting declaration portal;
2. proof of transport operations carried out in the Member State of posting, e.g. the CMR consignment note;
3. tachograph records, in particular the country symbols of the Member States in which the driver was present when carrying out international road transport operations or cabotage operations.

The operator is required, at the direct request of the competent authorities of the Member State where the posting took place, to provide proof of transport operations and copies of the tachograph records, as well as documentation relating to the remuneration of the driver in respect of the period of posting. The operator submits the documentation via the road transport posting declaration portal no later than eight weeks after the date of the request. To deal with the situations where the operator has not provided the evidence requested by the competent authorities of the Member State within the prescribed period, the competent authority in Latvia will be the State Labour Inspectorate.

Information on the level of remuneration for drivers in the EU Member States is available here [3].

The rules on social security coordination contained in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) 883/2004 apply to workers of the international road transport sector who usually work in more than one Member State. Social security contributions for employees are payable in only one Member State at a time. Such workers are required to obtain a European Union standard form — the A1 certificate stating that the worker is covered by social insurance and that the employer pays compulsory social security contributions in the country which issued the A1 certificate. In Latvia, the A1 certificate is issued by the State Social Insurance Agency. Latvian operators must apply for an A1 certificate for the drivers engaged in carriage of goods or passengers in other Member States. The A1 certificate must be applied for irrespective of the type of transport operations carried out by the driver (bilateral, international or cabotage operations to other Member States). The A1 certificate is issued pursuant to Regulation (EC) 883/2004, and its issue and the period for which it is issued are not affected by the provisions of Directive (EU) 2020/1057 on the period to be indicated in the driver’s posting declaration (which is set up to 6 months). The A1 certificate and the driver’s posting declaration are two different documents and do not replace each other. In fact, the A1 certificate must be requested every time an employee performs his/her duties outside Latvia, while the posting declaration must be completed on the portal https://www.postingdeclaration.eu/landing [2] in cases when the posting conditions set out in Directive (EU) 2020/1057 apply to the driver (i.e. when cabotage operations and international road transport operations are carried out: loading/unloading is not in the operator’s country of establishment).

The European Commission has compiled on its website questions and answers  [4]related to the posting of drivers.

In case of technical problems related to the functioning of the declaration portal for the posting of drivers, please write to DIGIT-POSTINGDECLARATION-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu [5].

For enquiries, please contact the Road Transport Administration by email info@atd.lv [6] or by phone 67686474.

Information on the level of remuneration for drivers in the EU Member States [7]