One of the biggest problems in the transport industry is the shortage of professional drivers on the labor market. The influx of qualified workers from Eastern Europe was supposed to be the answer to this situation. However, barriers imposed by institutions in Poland and the EU mean that foreign drivers are increasingly being denied the necessary A1 certificate.
The A1 form is a so-called EU form introduced in April 2014 across all EU countries, replacing the E 101 form that had been in use until then. The document confirms that social security contributions are being paid in a given country belonging to the European community, and also exempts the company from the obligation to pay benefits again in another member state. Employees posted to work abroad within the European Union must have the A1 form in the vehicle cabin in case of a road inspection. Entrepreneurs who decided to hire drivers from Eastern European countries due to staff shortages will particularly feel the effects of this problem. The A1 certificate serves as confirmation that the posted worker is subject to Polish insurance and Polish legislation.
– To obtain this document, the employer or the employee themselves must submit an appropriate application to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). Practice shows that this can be problematic in the case of companies employing workers from outside the EU – explains Kamil Wolański, an expert at the Nationwide Center for Driver Settlement (OCRK). – A barrier to issuing the A1 form for citizens of countries that are not members of the European Union is the ambiguous EU legislation, including the duration and continuity of residence in the territory of a member state, the nature of the work performed, the duration of the employment contract, or even the applicant’s family ties.
Carriers have recently been reporting more and more frequently that the Social Insurance Institution is refusing to issue the document necessary for international transport. This is particularly worrying because without the A1 certificate, a company cannot send a driver with goods outside of Poland. In the event of a vehicle inspection without such a document, entrepreneurs face penalties. Unfortunately, increasingly often, the only solution to obtain such a certificate is to fight it in court. An additional difficulty regarding the refusal to issue documents to foreigners is the lack of clear legal regulations. Above all, the regulations lack clarity regarding when and on what basis an application for a document certifying the payment of contributions can be rejected. When considering an application for the certification of the A1 form, ZUS employees decide whether, in their opinion, the criteria regarding the place of residence contained in Art. 11 of Regulation 987/2009 have been met. As a result, individual branches interpret the regulations in completely different ways.
– The longer Polish law fails to clearly regulate these provisions, the greater the decline in competitiveness that will affect the Polish transport industry. In the current situation, entrepreneurs cannot feel secure when hiring workers from the East, precisely because of the A1 certificate – adds Wolański.
Recently, thanks to the help of experts from the Nationwide Center for Driver Settlement, a court overturned a decision by the Social Insurance Institution regarding the refusal to issue an A1 certificate to a Ukrainian citizen.