What is WAADI Registration?
WAADI registration is the mandatory entry in the Kamer van Koophandel (KvK) trade register that every organisation must hold if it makes workers available to a third party under that third party's direction, in return for payment. The requirement flows from the Wet allocatie arbeidskrachten door intermediairs (WAADI), which has been in force since 1 July 1998 and was amended in 2012 to introduce the registration duty. The register is public and searchable, so any Dutch client can verify whether a prospective supplier is authorised to supply labour.
Registration confirms only that the organisation has declared itself as a labour supplier. It does not audit compliance with wage tax, social premiums, minimum wage, or worker identification; those assurances come from NEN 4400-1 certification and the SNA register. The two instruments work together.
How does WAADI Registration work?
An organisation that intends to supply labour, or that already does so, files a registration via the KvK trade register, stating that its activities include making workers available to third parties. The entry is visible as a flag on the company's trade register extract and in the public WAADI search tool. There is no pre-qualification or financial test. The duty is administrative, but the enforcement teeth are real.
The Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie audits labour-supply arrangements and issues fines under Article 15a WAADI for unregistered activity. The tariff is a three-band scale based on the number of workers supplied without registration: EUR 8,000 where fewer than 10 workers are supplied, EUR 16,000 where 10 to fewer than 30 workers are supplied, and EUR 32,000 where 30 or more workers are supplied. Recidivism multipliers apply: 2x for a second violation and 3x for a third, so a second violation involving 30 or more workers can reach EUR 64,000 and a third can reach EUR 96,000. Importantly, fines are imposed on both the uitlener (the labour supplier) and the inlener (the client hiring from an unregistered supplier), which makes WAADI verification a standard part of procurement and onboarding checks.
Octagon's Employer of Record services are WAADI registered, and we mitigate chain-liability exposure for clients through G-account payments and documented wage-tax withholding. For onboarding timelines, see EOR onboarding timeline. For deeper liability framing, see chain liability guide 2026.
Who does WAADI Registration apply to?
WAADI registration applies to any organisation based in or operating in the Netherlands that supplies workers to third parties for work performed under those third parties' direction. This includes temporary staffing agencies, payroll companies, Employer of Record providers, detachering firms, and intra-group entities that second workers to sister companies on a commercial basis. Public sector organisations that lend staff to other public bodies fall within the scope when remuneration is involved.
Foreign firms that post workers into the Netherlands must also register if their activity is more than incidental. This typically overlaps with the A1 certificate requirement and the notification duty under the Wet arbeidsvoorwaarden gedetacheerde werknemers in de Europese Unie (WagwEU). For clients weighing supplier due diligence, EOR hidden costs covers the downstream financial impact of non-compliance.
When does WAADI Registration not apply?
WAADI registration is not required for genuine service contracts where the supplier delivers a defined result using its own staff under its own direction, because no labour-allocation relationship exists. It also does not apply to purely internal workforce deployment within a single legal entity, or to intra-group secondment performed on a non-commercial, cost-neutral basis between affiliated entities. Engagements with genuine independent contractors under the Wet VBAR framework fall outside the scope, since the contractor is self-employed rather than supplied as labour. Finally, isolated, one-off postings between group companies without payment are generally exempt, though the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie applies a substance-over-form test when evaluating borderline cases.