Luxembourg based meat processor is not compulsory covered under Dutch sector pension fund

 
With its ruling on February 17, 2026, the Court of Appeal in The Hague put an end to nine years of uncertainty for our client regarding whether she was obligated to participate in the Dutch sector pension fund when working in the Netherlands.

Taxperience therefore warmly congratulates Brisdet lawyers, represented by Mr. F.M.P. Brisdet and Mr. M.G. Hop, as well as their own staff Juan Telting, Bart van Gool, and Maud Oudenhuijzen with the result achieved.

The dispute and ruling
Because this ruling was preceded by nine years of legal action, which has already been extensively reported on in various professional literature, we will limit ourselves here to a brief summary of the case.

Our client is a Luxembourg employer active in the meat processing industry in various EU countries, including the Netherlands. Its activities involve several non-Dutch EU residents. Based on the applicable European social security regulations, the employees in question, due to their work in various EU countries, are not subject to social security contributions in the Netherlands, but are all covered by the Luxembourg social security system and the associated statutory pension scheme.

However, the Foundation Industry-wide Pension Fund for Meat, Meat Products, Convenience Food and Poultry Meat (hereinafter VLEP) argued that our client was nevertheless obligated to join the VLEP and to withhold and pay pension contributions from the wages its employees earned during their Dutch workdays (VLEP).

While the courts initially ruled in favor of the VLEP, the Supreme Court referred the case back to The Hague Court of Appeal on appeal, instructing it to explicitly determine which system is "best" for the employees.

In its ruling, The Hague Court of Appeal concluded that, based on a comprehensive comparison between the Dutch and Luxembourg pension systems, the latter is better and more favorable for these employees during both the accrual and payout phases. Furthermore, the Court of The Hague confirms that the Dutch mandatory participation requirement imposed by the VLEP does not constitute a "priority rule" under the EU Treaty of Rome I.

In its ruling, the Court therefore rejects our client's mandatory participation in the Dutch sector pension fund.

Importance for the day to day practice
It is important to realize based on this ruling that it is necessary to be able to demonstrate in detail that a foreign (EU) retirement provision is better for the employee(s) involved in individual cases than participation in a Dutch (sector) pension.

This will therefore have to be determined individually for each foreign EU scheme before the applicable Dutch sector pension fund can be notified. A thorough analysis and dossier preparation are thus of paramount importance in this respect.

In case you have any questions or need a quick scan? Our Human Capital team is happy to assist you with advice and support regarding analysis, dossier preparation, and communication with the fund/inspectors.