Information may be exchanged – when necessary to ensure the oversight of service providers and their services – whereby doubts arise as to the accuracy of the information provided by a service provider or the authenticity of the documentation submitted.

This is the case both for a service provider intending to settle in a Member State and for a service provider settled in a Member State intending to provide services in another cross-border State.

If the service provider intends to settle in a Member State, the authorities may request information from another Member State in order to:

• Ascertain compliance with specific national requirements;
• Avoid duplication of requirements if the service provider was already set up in another Member State
• Check authenticity of submitted documents;
• Verify whether a person is delegated to act on behalf of the service provider.

Furthermore, the Member State where the service is provided may wish to ask the Member State of establishment whether a provider lawfully provides its services

In the current experimental phase of legislation on posted workers (Directive 96/71/EC), the exchange of information between the competent authorities registered for the purposes of administrative cooperation between Member States is set to start in May in order to ensure correct application of the Directive.

The transnational posting of workers takes place when, based on a trade agreement, an undertaking settled in a Member State (home organisation) temporarily makes one or more (posted) workers available to another undertaking set up in a different Member State (host) to perform a given work activity. 

In Italy, Directive 96/71/EC was transposed by Legislative Decree No. 72 dated 25 February 2000.

The employment contract between undertakings and posted workers shall be subject to the same comparatively more representative working conditions at a national level during the posting period.

Requests must specify their underlying reasons, must be duly substantiated, and must not create unnecessary duplication.

Each Member State is responsible for reviewing and implementing its own market access requirements (insofar as applicable) for services.