The decision, taken on 14 September 2006, concerns sectors in which workers are scarce or those with a high percentage of illegal workers due to the so-called transitional measures, which mean workers from the eight countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 (EU-8) still cannot take a job everywhere in the EU. Under the new scheme, which came into effect on 17 September 2006, employers from the sectors concerned no longer need to prove to the Centre for Work and Income (Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen; CWI) that they cannot find a Dutch worker for a certain job before they can hire from the EU-8.
The sectors concerned are: Wood industries and wholesale; metal industries; bakeries; butcher companies and slaughterhouses; retail and crafts industries; shop operating; wholesale trade; hotels and catering; health, psychological and social services; certain business services; construction (only wet mortar); certain branches of central and local government, and; telecommunication.
In a letter to the Dutch parliament, Secretary of State H.A.L van Hoof wrote that the country will also consecutively drop barriers in other sectors. At the same time, the Dutch government has already started to crack down on illegal work, namely in the construction sector and in crafts industries. Van Hoof added, however, that once all sectors have been liberalised, the country might even drop its work-permit scheme altogether.
