Info

IRU pointed out today, 30.01.2015, that the german authorities have announced that the application of the measures of minimum wage act could be suspended for the transit-transports performed by foreign operators. The suspension will take effect until the clarifying by the european authorities of the conformities of the german provisions with the EU legislation, which are estimated for the summer of 2015.
http://www.verkehrsrundschau.de/mindestlohn-fuer-transit-lkw-fahrer-wird-vorerst-ausgesetzt-1596792.html

According to the announcement, the transports from and towards Germany are not excepted on the basis of this measure, the transporters have to comply with the measures further on. According to an answer given by the german authorities to the questions of the hungarian association MKFE, regarding these kind of freights, from or towards Germany, the waiting and the availability time are considered to be working time. The german authorities consider that the legislation on the assumption that the working time has to be appreciated is the one of the CE 2002/15/CE Directive from the 11.03.2002.

Transporter obligations, related to the german Minimum Wage Act:

1) The declaring of the employees (drivers) who will work in Germany
2) The client will probably ask for the signing of a declaration, which states that you will respect the german minimum wage law, the declaration will probably be in the german language, where you possibly don’t know what it says (we can help you with this)
3) You have to fill out the “supporting log of hours worked” in maximum 7 days, mentioning which driver, on which day, how many hours has worked in Germany … you don’t have to send the log anywhere, BUT you will have to keep it for 2 years, and you will have to send it to the german customs if they ask you to do this, in the german language !
4) For each worked hour in Germany you will have to pay 8,5 euro gross, the evidence related to the minimum wage law has to be justified until the last day of work of the german bank (from Frankfurt/Main, according to MiLoG law). The deadline for the payment, is the end of the next month. By that time the employee must be paid the equivalent of work performed, with all the evidence and records related, according to the requirements of the law "Milog" !!!


1) The declaring of the employees (drivers) who will work in Germany

The carriers must send a notification in the German language to:
Bundesfinanzdirektion West from Köln, before starting a transport operation on the german territory, using the 033037B (mobile) form, for the specific activity.

This form contains:
• Name, surname and birth date of the employer,
• Start and estimated duration of the operation on german ground,
• The address where the documents are going to be stored,
• A confirmation in order to certify that on demand, the employers will be able to present the proof that the minimum salary has been paid to the driver

The notification must contain all operations for a period of up to 6 months. Thus, operators can list the names of all drivers who will perform transports on german territory for the period between 01.01.2015-30.06.2015 (or a preferential period, up to a maximum of six months) and all shipments between these dates will be covered. This notification shall only be transmitted, the German authorities will not respond and will not approve this notification. (we strongly recommend you to keep the confirmation of the sent fax)

Useful documents:

• MiLoG law In German
• Model statement 033037

Interpretation and law enforcement

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Arbeit/Mindestarbeitsbedingungen/Mindestlohn-Mindestlohngesetz/mindestlohn-mindestlohngesetz.html?nn=30716#doc30720bodyText2

In the following we will present some possibilities, through which you can comply with the requirements of “MiLog”.

1. The equivalent hours worked in Germany will be calculated as follows: (Hours DE x 8.50 euros x exchange rate) - (Hours DE x hourly wage RO), and the result will be added to the gross salary.

2. German law recognizes the concept of daily allowance, if the company grants it, but it must be reimbursed, German law, limits to 2/3 of the daily allowance that can be included in the salary, i.e in those 8.50 euro per hour. Example: if the driver receives 51 euros, the company could include only 34 euros in the calculation of the salary, which represent 4 hours worked in Germany.

3. if the company grants daily allowance, but it should not be reimbursed, the equivalent hours worked in Germany can be fully covered by the daily allowance.

Possibilities no. 2 and 3 are based on the summary information from the following quotation:
Original in pdf format
Traducere in limba romana pdf (neoficial) evidentiat cu galben si rosu pasaje legate de diurna

Importantly, the declaration of the drivers data is not enough for the German authorities, but all administrative matters relating to MiLoG: Tageskontrollblatt filling and archiving, payment of salaries according to MiLoG should be strictly respected.

Payment of wages according to MiLoG: no matter which calculation method listed above you choose, you must be clear that you have paid the equivalent hours worked in Germany, justified by administrative formulation (payroll, statement of account, measure of payment, Tageskontrollblatt for vehicles weighing less than 3.5t 3.5t MMTA, above MMTA (tachograf charts).

Useful links:

Online statement form 033037B(mobil)

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Arbeit/Meldungen-bei-Entsendung/meldungen-bei-entsendung_node.html

Gesetz zur Stärkung der Tarifautonomie (Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz)

Verordnung über Meldepflichten nach dem Mindestlohngesetz

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Arbeit/Meldungen-bei-Entsendung/meldungen-bei-entsendung_node.html#doc99746bodyText4

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Arbeit/Meldungen-bei-Entsendung/meldungen-bei-entsendung_node.html#doc99746bodyText5

Setting exchange rate

You can submit your complaint related to your dissatisfaction regarding the "MiLoG" law to the European Commission here

http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/complaint_form_ro.htm

General statement of compliance on behalf of the transport operator:

If you have apprehensions, or you do not have the time to translate the different statements you get from various clients, you can find here a bilingual statement, which you can send to the clients. They do not have to translate it and if they find it ok, they will possibly accept it. In this case you won’t have to translate and understand the proposed statement, which can hide multiple things.
The statement is a general one, is not ba personalized one (on client), it is only personalized for the declarer, so you can use it generally.
You can send the same document, along with your offer to all your clients/customers.
We also use this statement, we ask for this statement from our collaborators and forward it to our clients.
This statement is intended to help carriers regarding the settlement introduced on 1st of January in Germany related to the mandatory minimum wage in the economy in Germany, i.e EUR 8.5 gross / hour.
The declaration must be filled with your data online, you will have to answer the questions of the form, in what way did you proceed related to the "MiLoG" law, finally please press the button "I sign and send".
This will generate a "pdf" document, which will be sent to your e-mail address indicated on the form.

You can complete repeatedly, it won’t be saved on the server, it will only be sent per e-mail at the address you indicate (if you have made a mistake you can remake it) or for more companies.

We recommend you to sign it and transmit it to your partners. With this statement you will be able to ensure through your signature that you will respect the law and its rules and provisions.

Why did we create this guideline?

Starting December 2014, several companies from Germany sent all kinds of similar statements, Kefren Expres received such statements and had to comply. We are also responsible for our collaborators/partners, so that we made the decision to create such a statement. Once done/created, we consider that these are to be shared with you too because it similarly affects us.

We wish to support the activity of the carriers and want to prove solidarity and fairness.

We hope that our efforts are in your favor

Respectfully,
The “Kefren Expres” Team