Register of Foreign Service Providers (RUT)

In some cases, yes. The duty of registration depends exclusively on whether registration concerns:

• A foreign company posting employees to Denmark in connection with supplying services, or

• A foreign self-employed person without employees supplying services in Denmark.

There is no upper or lower limit on the duration of the work period to be considered as a posting. The posting commences as soon as the employee starts work in Denmark. Therefore, the company must register the posting in RUT from the time at which work is commenced.

A worker posted to Denmark is an employee who usually works in a country other than Denmark, but who is temporarily working in Denmark.

A company is regarded as posting employees in the following situations:

1. When, at its own expense and under its own management, a company stations an employee in Denmark in connection with performance of a service for a recipient in Denmark.

2. When a company stations an employee at a place of business, at a company within the same group, or at a company with a similar connection to the company responsible for the posting.

3. When a temp agency or a similar labour provider stations an employee at a user company.

Another condition is that there is an employment relationship between the employee and the posting company, or between the employee and another company which has provided the employee for the posting company.

A service corresponds to the period the service is set to last in the contract for the service. If there are several contracts, you should register a service for each contract. The period for a service is from the start of work until the work is finished. It is important to register the exact period.

If there are changes during the period, you should change the registration so that it is always correct. You should also indicate a sector code for the type of work being performed. The sector code should correctly correspond to the specific work to be performed, e.g. construction of buildings.

A workplace is the address at which the specific work (task) is being performed. A service may well include several workplaces if the service is composed of several tasks. A workplace is therefore the site at which the posted employee/self-employed person actually works. 

If the work is not to be performed at a single specific address, you should state the workplace using geographic co-ordinates.  It is also important to state the exact period during which work is to be performed at each specific address.

The contact person should be one of the people working in Denmark in connection with supplying the service.

The contact person should be able to answer questions from the authorities, for example about where work will be performed in the near future etc. Therefore, you should register how the authorities can contact the contact person in Denmark by stating the mobile phone number and email address of the relevant person. If the contact person leaves Denmark for any length of time, you should appoint and register a new contact person in RUT.

You should state the sector code the foreign company is registered under in its home country. Furthermore, you should state the sector code that describes the work to be performed in Denmark.

A contractor is the company or person with whom you have entered into a contract to supply a service. 

The contractor has to notify the Danish Working Environment Authority if it has not received documentation that a registration has been made in RUT. This notification should be made by no later than three days after work has commenced. The contractor risks being fined if it fails to do this.

Read more about notification to the Danish WEA (in Danish)

You should register a service by no later than at the same time as work in Denmark commences.

If there are changes in a service already registered, you should register these changes in RUT by no later than the first business day after the change.

You risk a fine of DKK 10,000 (approx. 1,344 EUR) if you fail to comply with the time limit for registering in RUT.

Changes to a service registered in RUT should be made by no later than the first business day following the date of the change.  It is important that a registered service is always up to date and registered correctly.

If there are changes in a service already registered, you should register these changes in RUT by no later than the first business day after the change.

You risk a fine of DKK 10,000 (approx. 1,344 EUR) if you fail to comply with the time limit for registering in RUT.

As a general rule, all services carried out in Denmark should be registered in RUT.  However, registration in RUT is not required in the following situations:

1. Participation in seminars and conferences, including researchers, lecturers and others who have been invited to teach or hold a talk etc.

2. Participation in individual artistic events by professional artistes.

3. Participation in business trips for foreign firms or companies which do not have a permanent place of business in Denmark.

4. Participation in individual major sports events or trials/training at a Danish sports club by professional sportspeople/coaches.

5. Supply of consultancy services within accounting and auditing for up to eight days.

6. Posting within a group by a company for up to eight days. However, this does not apply if the service involves construction work, agriculture, forestry and nursery work, cleaning, including window cleaning, as well as hotel and restaurant work.

7. Cabotage of goods, the road part of combined transport or bus cabotage must submit their posting declarations to IMI: Road Transport - Posting Declaration

8. Supply of a technical facility or a technical installation if the work does not take more than eight days and if the employee or self-employed person posted to work in Denmark is a specialist or qualified to fit, install, inspect, repair or inform about the technical facility or installation in Denmark.

NOTE: With regard to point 8, all parts must be met if the service is to be exempt from the duty to register in RUT. Point 8 is known as the “fitter rule”. It implies that some types of posting of employees are exempt from the duty to register in RUT. This applies to postings where all of the following three conditions are met:  

1. Supply of the service does not last for more than eight days, and

2. The service is part of the supply of a technical facility or a technical installation, and

3. The employee or the self-employed person has been tasked with or specialises in or is qualified to fit, install, inspect, repair or inform about a technical facility or a technical installation in Denmark.

The exemption is relevant for companies supplying high-technology machinery to Danish industrial companies, for example, and in cases where the foreign supplier’s expertise and know-how are required to enable the recipient in Denmark to start using the technical facility or installation as soon as possible. 

NB: For example, the exemption from the duty of registration does not apply to postings related to performing general building and construction work. Nor does it apply to decommissioning or dismantling old machinery, technical facilities or installations, whatever the sector.

The following information is available to the public:

1. Name of company, business address and contact information.

2. Date of commencement and completion of the service.

3. Date of commencement and completion of the service at the individual workplace, if there are several workplaces.

4. Name of the contact person for the company.

5. Sector code of the company.

6. VAT no. and place of registration in the home country of the company, or information that the company does not have a VAT no. in its home country.

7. Number of employees at each workplace, stated in intervals.

Search for service contracts in RUT

Read about regulations and requirements for foreign service providers at danishbusinessauthority.dk. Gain an overview of the Danish regulations and requirements for foreign companies supplying services in Denmark.

Read about posting at https://workplacedenmark.dk/en

Find information on important regulations and conditions in connection with being posted to Denmark. Both companies and employees can find information about relevant terms of employment and work, for example health and safety, social security, tax and VAT, holiday regulations, etc. The information is available in Danish, English, German and Polish.

Find information about finding a job and recruiting foreign labour in Denmark, e.g. information about contracts, pensions and unemployment insurance. The website is in English, but it is possible to have it displayed in around 100 different languages.