Draft Law No. 8805 simplifies procedures for businesses and clarifies the rules on posting workers to Luxembourg.
In Luxembourg, posting is getting simpler for businesses, while checks and fines are stepped up, particularly in road transport.
Background and scope
Draft Law No. 8805 (the “Draft Law”) has been submitted to the Luxembourg Parliament (Chambre des Députés) on 24 July 2026. It introduces a new Article L. 142-3bis into the Labour Code and amends Articles L. 142-2, L. 142-3, L. 143-2, L. 144-6, L. 145-1, L. 145-4 and L. 145-6 of the same code.
The Draft Law pursues a twofold objective. First, it addresses the observations raised by the European Commission regarding the transposition of Directive 2014/67/EU of 15 May 2014 on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers (the “Directive”). Second, it improves and clarifies certain provisions of the Labour Code relating to posting, in particular in the road transport sector.
The European Commission had indeed sent Luxembourg a supplementary letter of formal notice raising three points of non-compliance: excessive obligations imposed on the service recipient in cases of subcontracting, an unrealistic documentary requirement regarding the posted worker's employment contract, and grounds for refusing to notify sanctions that went beyond what the Directive allows.
The end of obligations imposed on service recipients
Under the current regime, where a service provider uses a direct subcontractor that posts workers, the service recipient must verify that the subcontractor has duly sent its posting declaration to the Labour and Mines Inspectorate (“ITM”) and appointed a reference person. Failing that, the recipient must itself submit a declaration together with a copy of the service agreement.
The European Commission considered this mechanism disproportionate: the Directive assigns no role to the service recipient, and shifting this burden is liable to deter the use of service providers established in other Member States, thereby hindering the freedom to provide services.
The Draft Law accordingly repeals paragraph 2 of Article L. 142-2 of the Labour Code. Luxembourg-based principals and service recipients will therefore be relieved of this verification and fallback obligation, which should significantly simplify the management of subcontracting chains involving foreign service providers.
An equivalent document to the employment contract that is easier to produce
Article L. 142-3, point 5°, of the Labour Code currently requires the service provider to keep a copy of the posted worker's employment contract "or any equivalent document", which had to be issued by the competent control authority of the country in which the posting undertaking is established.
The European Commission noted that, in practice, this equivalent document is generally issued by the employer itself rather than by a control authority, and that no such authority even exists in every Member State. This requirement therefore made compliance impossible for many foreign service providers.
The Draft Law removes the reference to the control authority of the country of origin, while reinstating the words "or any equivalent document", which had been inadvertently deleted in a previous reform. Service providers posting workers to Luxembourg will accordingly find it easier to comply with their documentary obligations.
New exemptions for short-term interventions
The Draft Law introduces a new Article L. 142-3bis exempting certain posted workers from the declaration obligations set out in Articles L. 142-2 and L. 142-3. This covers employees of a foreign undertaking carrying out maintenance, servicing or repair work on machinery, installations or equipment (including related software), as well as employees travelling to Luxembourg as trainers, lecturers or speakers, or to attend training sessions, conferences, business meetings, trade fairs or exhibitions.
This exemption is strictly limited: the activities concerned must not exceed forty hours per month, and it does not apply in any event to activities in the construction sector.
Stronger enforcement tools
The maximum amount of the administrative fine applicable in posting matters, currently set at EUR 50,000 under Article L. 143-2, is increased to EUR 75,000. This increase reflects the Government's stated aim of strengthening the fight against social dumping.
Article L. 144-6 on the cross-border enforcement of sanctions is also rewritten to limit the grounds for refusing to notify a decision to those cases expressly provided for by the Directive, which only allows grounds based on disproportionate recovery costs, a low fine amount, or a breach of defence rights to justify a refusal to enforce a sanction, not a refusal to notify one.
A reinforced regime for road transport
The Draft Law also incorporates the posting-related provisions that were previously included in Draft Law No. 7319, so as to consolidate all posting-related amendments within a single text.
Article L. 145-1 of the Labour Code is amended to extend the scope of the posting regime to all undertakings carrying out professional passenger or goods transport by road and established outside Luxembourg, including those established in a third country, without further distinguishing according to whether they are covered by certain specific European or international instruments.
Article L. 145-4 further clarifies the arrangements for the posting declaration:
undertakings subject to the binding EU rules under Directive (EU) 2020/1057 must declare the posting via the public interface connected to the Internal Market Information System (IMI);
other undertakings, including those established in third countries not covered by those rules, must now make this declaration via the ITM's dedicated electronic platform (e-Détachement).
This Draft Law, currently before the Council of State for its opinion, reflects the Government's intention to bring Luxembourg legislation into full compliance with EU law, while strengthening the tools available to control and sanction posting, in particular in the road transport sector.
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