France
Since September 7, 2018, France has abolished certain mandatory administrative obligations, such as the prior declaration of the temporary assignment of foreign employees, the translation of employment contracts, and the appointment of a representative in France for foreign exhibitors, visitors, and delegates to shows or trade fairs without service provision, with the exclusion of providers involved in setup and dismantling.
However, foreign employers are still required to comply with other obligations, such as respecting the rights of assigned employees (minimum wage, working times, etc.).
Furthermore, the reporting obligations continue to apply unchanged with regard to the international service provision entailing the temporary assignment of employees to France, including when the client itself is established abroad. In this case, the Swiss company must first and foremost register workers with the labor inspectorate using the new SIPSI tele service of the Ministry of Employment, which can be reached via the following link: SIPSI
The pre-assignment declaration or DPD informs the French labor inspectorate service that your employee is being temporarily assigned to France. This must be completed by any employer established outside France who is temporarily assigning employees to carry out an assignment or service.
You must furnish certain information, including notably with regard to:
- the employer
- the representative in France responsible for liaising with the inspection officers
- the principal or client
- the assignment or service for which the employees are being assigned
- the assigned employees
The completion of all information fields required by the regulations is mandatory. For this reason, any incomplete declaration in one or more fields cannot be sent via SIPSI. There is no minimum time period for sending your declaration before the assignment commences. In case of uncertainty regarding certain elements, you can start the declaration and complete it before the assignment commences, once all the information is known.
The declaration of assignment sent to the French labor inspectorate only involves salaried workers.
To contact the labor inspectorate for your place of service delivery: You will find the contact details for the territorial unit of the DI(R)ECCTE (labor department) for your place of service delivery by clicking here.
For all other questions, please feel free to contact our ExportHelp service.
You will find full information in our virtual web folder on the temporary assignment of employees to the EU.
Other countries
Similar regulations exist in Italy, but they are not mandatory for trade fairs. Please feel free to consult our virtual web folder. Page in English for the Italian Ministry of Employment: Posting of workers. Page in Italian for the registration of workers: Registrazione.
Germany, for its part, has tightened its regulations on the minimum wage. Please see the German Customs Authority’s website for information on this. As for workers temporarily assigned to a trade fair, whether they are involved in assembly or selling, they must also be declared. For more information on Germany please see our virtual web folder on the temporary assignment of workers to the EU.
