An EU company supplying temporary labour to a different member state of the
European Union can affiliate its workers to the social security system of its
home country but only if it carries out "significant activities
there", the European Court of Justice has ruled.
In doing so, the court’s judges have dismissed claims brought against
recruitment consultancy Fitzwilliam Executive Search, of Ireland, by the Dutch
authorities, that its employees should pay contributions to the Netherlands
social security system, because its turnover between 1993 and 1996 was higher
in Holland than in Ireland.
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The Dublin-based company appealed to the ECJ, citing EU laws that allow
workers to use the social security system of their employer, when they perform
work in another EU state "for a specific duration of work not exceeding 12
months".
