Posting drivers in the EU road transport sector

Abstract

It is unclear which minimum wages should be applied to cross-border posted lorry drivers in road transport. The most important EU instrument that deals with this topic is the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD). The PWD was however mainly adopted to regulate this matter in the construction sector, which is also clearly showed in the specific scope rules that determine the scope of application of this directive. This makes for a difficult application of the PWD to the atypical and highly mobile transport sector and leads to many questions. These questions can be divided into two major questions: 1. Is the PWD applicable to cross-border postings in the road transport sector? 2. If so, which specific postings are covered by the scope of the PWD? The EU legislator finally found an agreement to generally assume that the PWD is applicable; however, the question remains which specific posting situations subsequently fall under the scope of the PWD. In this article, the assumption of the EU legislator regarding the first question is taken as a starting point and the remaining second question will be assessed which posting situations are covered by the scope of the PWD. Answering this question will determine which minimum wages apply to these postings.