Coronavirus: registration of foreign employees

Employers in the construction, cleaning, agriculture, horticulture and meat processing sectors who temporarily employ an employee or self-employed person staying or residing abroad must collect and keep a particular set of information as from 24 August 2020.

The employer includes this information in a list, which he will keep available to the services responsible for combating the spread of the virus or for monitoring compliance with the measures imposed.

For whom?

This obligation applies to employers and others (e.g. self-employed persons, persons practising a liberal profession) who use the services of employees or self-employed persons either directly or by subcontracting. The rule applies to the construction, cleaning, agriculture, horticulture and meat processing sectors.

Natural persons engaging a third party for work for personal purposes are excluded from this obligation (e.g. installation or maintenance of an air conditioning system).

The registration obligation also does not apply to the employment of cross-border workers, nor does it apply if the stay in Belgium of the employee or self-employed person staying or residing abroad lasts less than 48 hours.

Which information?

The information that an employer has to keep is the following:

• identification details
  • name and first names
  • date of birth
  • national register number or bis number
  • place of residence when the work is carried out
• telephone number where the employee or self-employed person can be contacted
• where appropriate, the persons with whom the employed or self-employed person cooperates.

The employer must keep the updated list from the start of the work up to and including the 14th calendar day following the completion of the work. This information may only be used for the purpose of combating COVID-19, such as for tracing and examining clusters at the same address. After this period, the information must be deleted.

This obligation is without prejudice to the existing obligation for residence in Belgium: since 1 August, all persons returning or travelling to Belgium from abroad and staying here for more than 48 hours must complete an identification form (Passenger Locator Form). The employers concerned must ensure that this form is completed before the start of the work.

Source: Ministerial Decree of 22 August 2020 amending the Ministerial Decree of 30 June 2020 on urgent measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus COVID- 19, Belgian Official Gazette of 22 August 2020.