The German minimum wage will also apply to foreign drivers doing international traffic

From 1st January 2015 foreign carriers doing any kind of transport in Germany must prove that the wages of their drivers meet the German minimum wage law (8.50 EUR per hour).

 

 

 

Such proof shall consist of a model declaration and should be sent before the shipment to a special German Fax Number for this purpose.

The German Law on the minimum wage from 11th August 2008 establishes a minimum wage of 8.5 EUR per hour to be applied from 1st January 2015.
This Law shall also apply to foreign workers working for foreign companies in Germany. Therefore, as the German associations has reported us, the Law will also apply to foreign drivers working for foreign companies but passing through German territory.
In the case of international transport, this will only refer to the part of the journey within Germany. In the case of cabotage in Germany, this will refer to the whole journey.
In the case of foreign carriers, they will have the obligation to communicate the transport to be carried out.

The rule comes under the Directive 96/71/CE of posting of workers within the framework of provision of services. All Member States must guarantee that the workers being posted for a service are paid the minimum wage of the State where the service is performed.
Following the discussions with the Ministries of Finance and Labour in Germany concerning the declaration of minimum wage of workers performing their work in Germany, we made them the following considerations:

Can my customers demand me the Declaration?
According to German law, the customers are responsible for the enforcement of minimum wage by their suppliers that have workers posted in Germany. For this reason, many German customers require their transport suppliers the certification of the minimum wage’s compliance.

How do I make the Declaration?
There are three models of application (German, English or French). You can use any of the three declarations since they are basically the same but we recommend to use the German one.

These declaration models can be downloaded in:
German version:
By clicking on 033037  (or introducing 033037 in the searcher of this website)

English version:
By clicking on 033037E.

French version:
By clicking on 033037F.

Where should I send the Declaration?
At the moment, there is no email address. It has to be sent by fax at

Bundesfinanzdirektion West, Köln.
Fax: 0049 221964870

What proof do I have?
The receipt of fax proving it has been sent successfully.

Dates of the trips
If it is not an only trip, there is the possibility to indicate a 6-month period (from start date to end date) to avoid the need to send an application each time.

Working hours
Only real working hours are taken into account. Breaks and other rest periods are not considered.

Should my drivers carry any proof?
It is recommendable that employees (in this case carriers) carry:

Copy of the application
Proof of the fax being sent
Company declaration duly signed and stamped.

I indicated in the declaration some dates but finally they were not these ones. What should I do?
The corrections can be made until 7 days after the expiration of the declaration. So, if you declare a trip and then it is not carried out or the dates are changed, the corrections will be possible only until 7 days after the date in which the trip was supposed to be completed.

Gross wages
The gross wage of 8.5 eur is the basis by which the calculation is made, assuming that each company is going to declare and pay the corresponding tax of his country.

Self-employers
It applies to employees of companies of all EU countries. Therefore, it does not apply to self-employers.

Sources:

Ministry of Finance in Germany
Ministry of Labour in Germany
ASTIC – Association of International Road Transport (Spain)

For more information, please contact your Transport Associations