Membership

In order to become a member, your private employment agency must satisfy the following requirements:

• Your private employment agency must be a company and must be registered in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce. The extract from the Trade Register must contain at least one correct Standard Business Categories (SBI) code * and the description of the activities must show that your company is active in assigning personnel. If a foreign company wishes to register with the ABU, it can comply with the requirements by providing similar evidence from the country of origin;
• Your company must be registered with the Labour Standards Association (SNA) (opent in nieuw tabblad) or another organisation that provides equivalent assurances**;
  • In periods for which the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers is declared generally binding, the CI conducts a full substantive control on the basis of a screening document. The audit concerns correct compliance of the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers and the Collective Labour Agreement for Permanent Employees. Whether a positive report will be issued is decided on the basis of a decision tree.
  • In periods when the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers is not declared generally binding, the auditing institution examines whether your company is demonstrably able to work in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers and the Collective Labour Agreement for Permanent Employees. This depends partly on the software used by the company;Your company must be screened by an auditing institution (certificerende instellingen, CI) approved by the ABU and the screening must give rise of a positive report. The content of the screening process depends on the status of the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers.
• In order to determine the contribution, your company must have submitted an auditors’ report concerning the revenue to the ABU secretariat;
• Companies involved in proceeding at the SNCU can become ABU members only if this process has been fully completed;
• Your company must be registered with the foundation for flexible housing standards Stichting Normering Flexwonen (SNF), or with another organisation that provides equivalent assurances. This obligation applies only if your company makes deductions or settlements from the pay of any temporary agency worker who is not permanently resident in the Netherlands, for the accommodation of that temporary agency worker, or your company has contracted an agreement with the temporary agency worker on the use or rental of the accommodation.
• Your company must have an active policy against discrimination.
• Your company must be admitted by the Board of the ABU.

* The approved SBI codes in connection with the Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act (WAADI) are 78201 Private Employment Agencies, 78202 Temporary Staffing Agencies, 78203 Job Pools and/or 7830 Payrolling. For more information, see the FAQs on the registration obligation.

** The purpose of registration with the Labour Standards Association (SNA) or another organisation that offers the same assurances is to obtain a guarantee regarding the reliability of the company that regulates the limitation of the user company’s liability.

The ABU uses a system of regular CLA audits for its members. Regular CLA audits take place after 3 years, 2 years or 1 year. With a regular audit, the auditing institution performs a full substantive audit on the basis of a control document. The frequency of the regular CLA audits is determined on the basis of the outcome of the latest audit and the decisions in the decision tree. If one or more serious aberrations are observed during a regular CLA audit, an additional audit must be performed within 3 months. During this additional audit, the ABU member must show that the aberrations observed have been corrected. If this correction cannot be shown, the company will lose its ABU membership. The ABU bears the costs of the regular audits. The company bears the costs of an additional audit.