Regulation and Licensing
.. of EOR or PEO service providers is a hot topic in almost every country globally. Not only since only less than a handfull of countries legally recognize the principles of EOR or PEO to start with. In fact – to my knowledge – only Turkey, USA and Netherlands have explicit legal frameworks around either of the 2 concepts. In Netherlands, confusingly named ‘payrolling’, to create even more blurr around it.
In many other countries, EOR may or will be seen as a subtype of (temp) Employment Agency work, and market regulators will hold the practices of the industry along the measuring sticks they have for that type of business. Including demanding the required licences for that.
Strangely, the one country that since the 1950’s has been the frontrunner on many forms of labour market flexibilisation (Netherlands, the birth ground of Randstad Group), till now does not have a license system for service providers in the ‘triangle labour relation’ market.
It only has a (partially optional) certification system (called NEN4400/4401, see below), allowing the market to verify if a service provider is regularly audited and certified. Audits that would focus mostly on the financial aspects of payroll, proper tax- and social compliance and financial accountability.
A NEN4400 certification would give clients and employees certainty that their provider is properly handling the financial flows and liabilites around payroll, tax-, social-, and pension contributions. And (mostly domestic) clients could have some financial payment benefits in the employment chain when using NEN4400 certified providers.
But, particularly for payrollers or EORs, being NEN4400 certified (or not), did not really impact their ability to actually run their business.
Which allowed quite a number of (even world famous) EORs to not even register their Dutch company as an HR service provider, but as a software / technology platform. Thus also hiding their business activities for the labour market regulators and other stakeholders such as the mandatory pension funds.
Per 1-1-2027: a new admission system: WTTA
As the moment of writing this item however, a newly designed law is going through parliament, that will raise the bar a lot further for any service provider facilitating triangle labour relations: the WTTA (temporary labour market admission law).
This law from January onwards, demands that any service provider that implements triangle labour relations (so also the EOR model) applies for admission to the labour market first.
(fun fact: Dutch government decided to not call it a license system as that would require them to invest in a far more extensive enforcement system next to it).
An admission for which a serious scrutiny (including now fully mandatory NEN4400-certification) is required, plus the requirement to place a significant financial deposit with the labour market regulator. A practice similar to many surrounding EU countries.
What does this mean for EOR providers?
Already properly organised EORs, having NEN4400-certification in place for enough time already, will have the option to more or less smoothly be admitted into the new WTTA-coverage.
The ones that till date identified themselves as FinTech, HRTech, or other type of TECH/software company, now have quite a bit of work to do: they will not only be required to still get their responsibilities and liabilities updated to meet NEN4400-standards, but will also undergo the full scrutiny of the WTTA admission process, ánd to deposit 100.000 euro with the authority.
As a result, in 2026 alone, the register of NEN4400 certified companies, saw a rise of 31% in applications for a certificate.
Is your Dutch EOR provider ready for this?
Interested if your EOR is actually certified in Netherlands? Click the above logo to visit the register’s website.