Wtta: anyone hiring out workers in the Netherlands must register by 31 December 2026

Since 1 November 2026, last Sunday, the registration portal of the Dutch Admission Authority for the Hiring-out Market (Nederlandse Autoriteit Uitleenmarkt, the NAU) has been open (there is no English version of it; there is only this in English). Any company that hires out workers in the Netherlands and wants to continue doing so after 1 January 2028 must register for the transitional scheme under the Wet toelating terbeschikkingstelling van arbeidskrachten (Wtta) by 31 December 2026. That deadline is strict and cannot be repaired afterwards. According to research by Regioplan, cited by the NAU, one in three companies that hire out workers is not yet aware that this obligation is coming. Most of them do not think of themselves as temporary employment agencies in the classic sense. Hence this article.

What is it about?

The Wtta (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2025, 385) introduces a mandatory admission for anyone who, against payment, makes employees available to another party to work in the Netherlands under that party's direction and supervision: temporary employment agencies, payroll companies and secondment firms, but also companies that do so only occasionally. The Act enters into force on 1 January 2027. From 1 January 2028 hiring out without admission is truly prohibited, and a hirer may no longer have work performed by an employee of a provider without admission. From that date the Dutch Labour Inspectorate (the NLA) enforces the prohibition with fines per worker. The statutory maximum is the fifth-category fine, EUR 110,000 per offence in 2026; the fining policy rules have not yet been published.

Admission requires an inspection report by a designated inspection body (as far as we have been able to ascertain, no inspection bodies had been designated as at 3 November 2026) against a standards framework that resembles NEN 4400 but goes further, a certificate of conduct for legal entities (VOG) and a security deposit of EUR 100,000 (EUR 50,000 for start-ups). A provider that has been registered as such in the Dutch trade register for four years on 31 December 2026, has demonstrably hired out workers in that period and holds a "clean" tax compliance statement from the Dutch Tax Administration is exempt from the deposit. Admission is granted for four years, with a new inspection every twelve months. The annual contribution to the NAU is capped at EUR 3,611 in 2027, depending on turnover; the application fee will be announced in early 2027.

The transitional scheme in two steps

The transitional scheme consists of two steps, and both must be taken. First the registration, between 1 November and 31 December 2026. It requires eHerkenning (the Dutch business login) at level 3, a Berichtenbox voor Bedrijven (the government's digital mailbox for businesses) linked to the company's Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number, correct trade register data, the expected net turnover for 2026 and the type of application. Then the application itself, between 1 May and 30 June 2027. A provider that takes both steps in time may continue hiring out, also after 1 January 2028, for as long as the NAU has not decided on the application; the NAU's website says the same. In the NAU's own words: "Registering for the transitional scheme is not yet an application for admission."

Two practical points. Obtaining eHerkenning and the Berichtenbox takes weeks; anyone who does not have them yet should apply as soon as possible. And the NAU expects some 15,000 applications in 2027 and 2028, all of which must be inspected and processed. A provider without an SNA certificate covering the hiring-out module should secure an inspection body now rather than in the spring of 2027.

Does this apply to you?

That turns on one question: do your staff work at a client under the client's direction and supervision, or under your own? In the first case you are hiring out workers and the Act applies. In the second case you are performing a contract for work or another kind of service and you fall outside it, even though your people are on a client's premises. Lending staff between colleagues at cost price and within a group of companies is also excluded. So are genuinely self-employed contractors (with or without staff of their own); "hiring out" bogus self-employed workers, who are employees in reality, of course is covered, and we expect a great deal of discussion on that point in the years ahead.

A contractor for work does not need to register, but from 2028 must be able to prove the qualification: contracts, who holds the power to instruct, an obligation to deliver a result, own planning and own tools. Paper is patient; practice is what counts.

Foreign companies

According to the Dutch government, the admission requirement applies in full to companies established outside the Netherlands that have employees work in the Netherlands under the direction and supervision of a (Dutch or other) client, even if they already hold a licence in their home state. Registration in the Dutch trade register is required, but that is already the case under the current Waadi (Article 7a). The decision tree on the NAU's website steers virtually every foreign service provider towards admission, because it only asks about direction and supervision and disregards the purpose criterion of the Court of Justice (Vicoplus, C-307/09 to C-309/09; Martin Meat, C-586/13). In our view that is too broad, but it is the line you will be facing from 2028.

For companies that deploy third-country nationals in the Netherlands from another Member State, there is more. Genuine intra-EU service provision (Vander Elst, Essent, C-540/22) of course remains available: no Dutch work permit is needed. But a company that has those employees work under the direction and supervision of a client in the Netherlands will, from 2028, also need a Dutch Wtta admission. A contractor for work will not. The distinction that has made no difference under the Foreign Nationals Employment Act since Essent does decide whether you fall under the Wtta.

Our view

We have serious doubts whether the scheme, as it now stands for foreign service providers, passes the test of the freedom to provide services (Articles 56 and 57 TFEU): a foreign licence or certification counts for nothing, the deposit is the same for everyone, regardless of size or risk, and the standards framework is written for a Dutch employer with a Dutch payroll and Dutch tax returns. Our firm put the compatibility of the admission scheme with EU law before the European Commission as early as 1 July 2026; that procedure is pending. It does not suspend the Act. A company without admission on 1 January 2028 that has not registered for the transitional scheme must stop hiring out, however strong the European argument.

What we advise

Run the two tracks side by side: register, and keep the European objections for the moment they carry weight (the application itself, an objection or appeal, and/or a fine). Registration costs nothing, commits you to nothing and keeps every option open. In practice:

• Do you hire out workers in the Netherlands? Register with the NAU by 31 December 2026. If you hold an SNA certificate covering the hiring-out module, keep it valid until at least 30 June 2027: it replaces the inspection report once. If you do not, secure an inspection body now.

• Are you a foreign company with employees working in the Netherlands? First establish whether you hire out workers or perform a contract for work; that distinction decides everything. If you hire out, we advise you to register as well.

• Do you perform contracts for work or services under your own direction and supervision? Then, in principle, you need not register. Do document the qualification and tell your clients why you do not need admission, before they remove you from their supplier list as a precaution.

• Do you hire in workers? Map your providers, including the formal employers behind any intermediaries, make admission or exemption a condition in your contracts and set up your records so that from 1 January 2027 you record no later than on the first working day which worker comes from which provider. From 1 July 2027 you can check the status in the NAU's public register. The Labour Inspectorate's updated checklist (in Dutch only) is a good starting point (although for now it is still based on the current Waadi).

For questions about the portal, eHerkenning or the Berichtenbox, the NAU can be reached on working days between 9.00 and 12.00 on +31 88 371 4141 and through the contact form on toelatinguitleenmarkt.nl (in Dutch). On the question whether the Act applies to you at all, the NAU's decision tree is too blunt an instrument for cross-border situations; that is where we are happy to help.

Want to know more?

Our memorandum "The admission scheme of the Wtta" sets this out in detail: the timeline, the scope, the requirements, the position of foreign service providers, how it relates to other laws and regulations. The memorandum is available on request for a fee. Would you like to know what the Wtta means for your company? Contact Bart Maes (b.maes@maeslaw.nl, +31 6 22 41 90 06) or Elke Lenting.

This article reflects the state of the legislation on 3 November 2026 and is general information, not advice on your specific situation.