With the post-pandemic opening up of business travel in the EU, many of the corporate compliance challenges that have been put on hold over the last two years are likely to re-emerge. While it may take some time for travel volumes to approach pre-pandemic levels, all the signs are that across the EU enforcement of regulations relating to travellers is likely to increase, possibly as soon as this autumn. There is, therefore, a limited window for corporate travel managers to get to grips with these issues, socialise them with the appropriate stakeholders within their organisations, and decide on what action needs to be taken.

Two of the issues which will be of concern to travel managers relate to the social security and labour law issues arising from cross border travel. Whether, and how, to apply for A1 certificates to ensure travellers only have to pay social security in their home country; How to manage the pre-travel requirement of filing Posted Worker Directive Notifications; how to deal with the new Equal Pay for Equal Work obligations. All of these areas create significant challenges and Travel Managers will clearly be closely involved in developing solutions which are appropriate for their businesses.