Directive 2009/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 providing for minimum standards on sanctions and measures against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals
Data as of 2026-07-04 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
Subject matter and scope
This Directive prohibits the employment of illegally staying third-country nationals in order to fight illegal immigration. To this end, it lays down minimum common standards on sanctions and measures to be applied in the Member States against employers who infringe that prohibition.
Definitions
For the specific purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘third-country national’ means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty and who is not a person enjoying the Community right of free movement, as defined in Article 2(5) of the Schengen Borders Code; (b) ‘illegally staying third-country national’ means a third-country national present on the territory of a Member State, who does not fulfil, or no longer fulfils, the conditions for stay or residence in that Member State; (c) ‘employment’ means the exercise of activities covering whatever form of labour or work regulated under national law or in accordance with established practice for or under the direction and/or supervision of an employer; (d) ‘illegal employment’ means the employment of an illegally staying third-country national; (e) ‘employer’ means any natural person or any legal entity, including temporary work agencies, for or under the direction and/or supervision of whom the employment is undertaken; (f) ‘subcontractor’ means any natural person or any legal entity, to whom the execution of all or part of the obligations of a prior contract is assigned; (g) ‘legal person’ means any legal entity having such status under applicable national law, except for States or public bodies exercising State authority and for public international organisations; (h) ‘temporary work agency’ means any natural or legal person who, in compliance with national law, concludes contracts of employment or employment relationships with temporary agency workers in order to assign them to user undertakings to work there temporarily under their supervision and direction; (i) ‘particularly exploitative working conditions’ means working conditions, including those resulting from gender based or other discrimination, where there is a striking disproportion compared with the terms of employment of legally employed workers which, for example, affects workers’ health and safety, and which offends against human dignity; (j) ‘remuneration of illegally staying third-country national’ means the wage or salary and any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which a worker receives directly or indirectly in respect of his employment from his employer and which is equivalent to that which would have been enjoyed by comparable workers in a legal employment relationship.
Prohibition of illegal employment
1. Member States shall prohibit the employment of illegally staying third-country nationals. 2. Infringements of this prohibition shall be subject to the sanctions and measures laid down in this Directive. 3. A Member State may decide not to apply the prohibition referred to in paragraph 1 to illegally staying third-country nationals whose removal has been postponed and who are allowed to work in accordance with national law.
Obligations on employers
1. Member States shall oblige employers to: (a) require that a third-country national before taking up the employment holds and presents to the employer a valid residence permit or other authorisation for his or her stay; (b) keep for at least the duration of the employment a copy or record of the residence permit or other authorisation for stay available for possible inspection by the competent authorities of the Member States; (c) notify the competent authorities designated by Member States of the start of employment of third-country nationals within a period laid down by each Member State. 2. Member States may provide for a simplified procedure for notification under paragraph 1(c) where the employers are natural persons and the employment is for their private purposes. Member States may provide that notification under paragraph 1(c) is not required where the employee has been granted long-term residence status under Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents ( 11 ) . 3. Member States shall ensure that employers who have fulfilled their obligations set out in paragraph 1 shall not be held liable for an infringement of the prohibition referred to in Article 3 unless the employers knew that the document presented as a valid residence permit or another authorisation for stay was a forgery.
Financial sanctions
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that infringements of the prohibition referred to in Article 3 are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions against the employer. 2. Sanctions in respect of infringements of the prohibition referred to in Article 3 shall include: (a) financial sanctions which shall increase in amount according to the number of illegally employed third-country nationals; and (b) payments of the costs of return of illegally employed third-country nationals in those cases where return procedures are carried out. Member States may instead decide to reflect at least the average costs of return in the financial sanctions under point (a). 3. Member States may provide for reduced financial sanctions where the employer is a natural person who employs an illegally staying third-country national for his or her private purposes and where no particularly exploitative working conditions are involved.
Back payments to be made by employers
1. In respect of each infringement of the prohibition referred to in Article 3, Member States shall ensure that the employer shall be liable to pay: (a) any outstanding remuneration to the illegally employed third-country national. The agreed level of remuneration shall be presumed to have been at least as high as the wage provided for by the applicable laws on minimum wages, by collective agreements or in accordance with established practice in the relevant occupational branches, unless either the employer or the employee can prove otherwise, while respecting, where appropriate, the mandatory national provisions on wages; (b) an amount equal to any taxes and social security contributions that the employer would have paid had the third-country national been legally employed, including penalty payments for delays and relevant administrative fines; (c) where appropriate, any cost arising from sending back payments to the country to which the third-country national has returned or has been returned. 2. In order to ensure the availability of effective procedures to apply paragraph 1(a) and (c), and having due regard to Article 13, Member States shall enact mechanisms to ensure that illegally employed third-country nationals: (a) may introduce a claim, subject to a limitation period defined in national law, against their employer and eventually enforce a judgment against the employer for any outstanding remuneration, including in cases in which they have, or have been, returned; or (b) when provided for by national legislation, may call on the competent authority of the Member State to start procedures to recover outstanding remuneration without the need for them to introduce a claim in that case. Illegally employed third-country nationals shall be systematically and objectively informed about their rights under this paragraph and under Article 13 before the enforcement of any return decision. 3. In order to apply paragraph 1(a) and (b), Member States shall provide that an employment relationship of at least three months duration be presumed unless, among others, the employer or the employee can prove otherwise. 4. Member States shall ensure that the necessary mechanisms are in place to ensure that illegally employed third-country nationals are able to receive any back payment of remuneration referred to in paragraph 1(a) which is recovered as part of the claims referred to in paragraph 2, including in cases in which they have, or have been, returned. 5. In respect of cases where residence permits of limited duration have been granted under Article 13(4), Member States shall define under national law the conditions under which the duration of these permits may be extended until the third-country national has received any back payment of his or her remuneration recovered under paragraph 1 of this Article.
Other measures
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that employers shall also, if appropriate, be subject to the following measures: (a) exclusion from entitlement to some or all public benefits, aid or subsidies, including EU funding managed by Member States, for up to five years; (b) exclusion from participation in a public contract as defined in Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts ( 12 ) for up to five years; (c) recovery of some or all public benefits, aid, or subsidies, including EU funding managed by Member States, granted to the employer for up to 12 months preceding the detection of illegal employment; (d) temporary or permanent closure of the establishments that have been used to commit the infringement, or temporary or permanent withdrawal of a licence to conduct the business activity in question, if justified by the gravity of the infringement. 2. Member States may decide not to apply paragraph 1 where the employers are natural persons and the employment is for their private purposes.
Subcontracting
1. Where the employer is a subcontractor and without prejudice to the provisions of national law concerning the rights of contribution or recourse or to the provisions of national law in the field of social security, Member States shall ensure that the contractor of which the employer is a direct subcontractor may, in addition to or in place of the employer, be liable to pay: (a) any financial sanction imposed under Article 5; and (b) any back payments due under Article 6(1)(a) and (c) and Article 6(2) and(3). 2. Where the employer is a subcontractor, Member States shall ensure that the main contractor and any intermediate subcontractor, where they knew that the employing subcontractor employed illegally staying third-country nationals, may be liable to make the payments referred to in paragraph 1 in addition to or in place of the employing subcontractor or the contractor of which the employer is a direct subcontractor. 3. A contractor that has undertaken due diligence obligations as defined by national law shall not be liable under paragraphs 1 and 2. 4. Member States may provide for more stringent liability rules under national law.
Criminal offence
1. Member States shall ensure that the infringement of the prohibition referred to in Article 3 constitutes a criminal offence when committed intentionally, in each of the following circumstances as defined by national law: (a) the infringement continues or is persistently repeated; (b) the infringement is in respect of the simultaneous employment of a significant number of illegally staying third-country nationals; (c) the infringement is accompanied by particularly exploitative working conditions; (d) the infringement is committed by an employer who, while not having been charged with or convicted of an offence established pursuant to Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA, uses work or services exacted from an illegally staying third-country national with the knowledge that he or she is a victim of trafficking in human beings; (e) the infringement relates to the illegal employment of a minor. 2. Member States shall ensure that inciting, aiding and abetting the intentional conduct referred to in paragraph 1 is punishable as a criminal offence.
Criminal penalties
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that natural persons who commit the criminal offence referred to in Article 9 are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties. 2. Unless prohibited by general principles of law, the criminal penalties provided for in this Article may be applied under national law without prejudice to other sanctions or measures of a non-criminal nature, and they may be accompanied by the publication of the judicial decision relevant to the case.
Liability of legal persons
1. Member States shall ensure that legal persons may be held liable for the offence referred to in Article 9 where such an offence has been committed for their benefit by any person who has a leading position within the legal person, acting either individually or as part of an organ of the legal person, on the basis of: (a) a power of representation of the legal person; (b) an authority to take decisions on behalf of the legal person; or (c) an authority to exercise control within the legal person. 2. Member States shall also ensure that a legal person may be held liable where the lack of supervision or control, by a person referred to in paragraph 1, has made possible the commission of the criminal offence referred to in Article 9 for the benefit of that legal person by a person under its authority. 3. Liability of a legal person under paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not exclude criminal proceedings against natural persons who are perpetrators, inciters or accessories in the offence referred to in Article 9.
Penalties for legal persons
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that a legal person held liable pursuant to Article 11 is punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, which may include measures such as those referred to in Article 7. Member States may decide that a list of employers who are legal persons and who have been held liable for the criminal offence referred to in Article 9 is made public.
Facilitation of complaints
1. Member States shall ensure that there are effective mechanisms through which third-country nationals in illegal employment may lodge complaints against their employers, directly or through third parties designated by Member States such as trade unions or other associations or a competent authority of the Member State when provided for by national legislation. 2. Member States shall ensure that third parties which have, in accordance with the criteria laid down in their national law, a legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with this Directive, may engage either on behalf of or in support of an illegally employed third-country national, with his or her approval, in any administrative or civil proceedings provided for with the objective of implementing this Directive. 3. Providing assistance to third-country nationals to lodge complaints shall not be considered as facilitation of unauthorised residence under Council Directive 2002/90/EC of 28 November 2002 defining the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence ( 13 ) . 4. In respect of criminal offences covered by Article 9(1)(c) or (e), Member States shall define in national law the conditions under which they may grant, on a case-by-case basis, permits of limited duration, linked to the length of the relevant national proceedings, to the third-country nationals involved, under arrangements comparable to those applicable to third-country nationals who fall within the scope of Directive 2004/81/EC.
Inspections
1. Member States shall ensure that effective and adequate inspections are carried out on their territory to control employment of illegally staying third-country nationals. Such inspections shall be based primarily on a risk assessment to be drawn up by the competent authorities in the Member States. 2. With a view to increasing the effectiveness of inspections, Member States shall, on the basis of a risk assessment, regularly identify the sectors of activity in which the employment of illegally staying third-country nationals is concentrated on their territory. In respect of each of those sectors, Member States shall, before 1 July of each year, communicate to the Commission the inspections, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the employers for each sector, carried out in the previous year as well as their results.
More favourable provisions
This Directive shall be without prejudice to the right of Member States to adopt or maintain provisions that are more favourable to third-country nationals to whom it applies in relation with Articles 6 and 13, provided that such provisions are compatible with this Directive.
Reporting
1. By 20 July 2014, and every three years thereafter, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council including, where appropriate, proposals for amending Articles 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14. The Commission shall in particular examine in its report the implementation by Member States of Article 6(2) and (5). 2. Member States shall send the Commission all the information that is appropriate for drawing up the report referred to in paragraph 1. The information shall include the number and results of inspections carried out pursuant to Article 14(1), measures applied under Article 13 and, as far as possible, measures applied under Articles 6 and 7.
Transposition
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 20 July 2011. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. When they are adopted by Member States, those measures shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States. 2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.