ZAGREB, December 4, 2019 – The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and the German-Croatian Chamber of Industry and Commerce organised a conference in Zagreb on Wednesday on Germany as an important business destination and on posted workers and taxes in cross-border provision of services.
The head of the German-Croatian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Thomas Sichla, informed the gathering that this institution represented more than 400 members and provided assistance to German and Croatian enterprises wishing to do business on the German market, as well as gave advice about taxes and regulations.
Considering the topic of posted workers – employees sent by their employers to carry out a service in another EU member state on a temporary basis – lawyer Ivan Matić of the Zagreb-based Kallay & Partners law firm informed the event of novelties in the latest EU directive on posted workers.
The EU law defines a set of mandatory rules regarding the terms and conditions of employment to be applied to posted workers, which includes remuneration, workers’ accommodation and allowances or reimbursement of expenses during the posting assignment.
The posting of workers can last 12 months, with a justified six-month extension.
In 2017, 417,000 workers were posted to work in Germany. Across the European Union, 0.4% of all employees were posted workers that year. Over 9,800 workers were posted to work in Croatia, whereas 47,000 Croatians left the country for temporary employment abroad. As many as 47% of workers cross the EU borders for employment in the construction sector.
The event also revolved around Croatia-Germany trade. In 2018, the export of commodities from Croatia to Germany totalled nearly two billion euros, while imports from that country totalled 3.6 billion euro, according to HGK data.
From the early 1990s to the mid-2019, German investors spent 3.3 billion euro on their projects in Croatia, and the biggest German investors in Croatia so far have been Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Bayer and ThyssenKrupp.
More news about relations between Croatia and Germany can be found in the Politics section.
