ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

EFCI in Brussels is calling for the creation of a new central vetting system to make cross-border recruitment simpler and faster, while ensuring trust, safety and fairness. It says free movement is a cornerstone of the EU’s single market. 

As the European Cleaning and Facility Services Industry (EFCI), the recognised employers’ organisation and Social Partner for the cleaning industry sector, we call for the creation of a Central EU Police Vetting System to simplify and accelerate cross-border recruitment while ensuring trust, safety, and fairness.

Labour mobility is a cornerstone of the EU’s single market, enabling workers to move freely across Member States and supporting economic integration. However, the practical implementation of the legal framework, including rules on the free movement of workers, the posting of workers and social security coordination, faces persistent challenges that undermine efficiency and legal certainty.

Key challenges of implementation

• Fragmented procedures across member states: national authorities maintain separate systems for background checks (eg, criminal records, police vetting), resulting in delays, varying quality standards, and limited interoperability.

• Administrative complexity in cross-border recruitment: employers seeking to hire workers from other member states face lengthy and complex processes to verify records, particularly for sensitive professions such as security, childcare, and healthcare.

• Redundant vetting processes: mobile workers are often subject to repeated background checks when moving between employers (within the same country) and jurisdictions, creating unnecessary administrative burden for both workers and employers.

• Data protection and privacy concerns: divergent interpretations of EU data protection rules (eg GDPR) lead to uncertainty for authorities and employers, particularly when exchanging personal information for vetting purposes.

EFCI’s proposal

These challenges risk slowing down labour mobility, creating barriers for employers in critical sectors, and eroding confidence in the fairness and consistency of the single market’s labour mobility framework. EFCI therefore calls for creation of a Central EU Police Vetting System, a single, EU-wide process that:

• Simplifies and accelerates hiring by replacing multiple national checks with one mutually recognised vetting procedure, accessible via a single online portal.

• Individual applications to enable employees to vet themselves and provide their vetting number to employers. Registered employers could access the EU Policy Vetting Cert through the secure portal.
• Enhances trust and safety through accurate, secure, and fast verification, supporting both worker mobility and public protection.

By creating a single, digitally driven vetting process, the EU could reduce administrative burdens, improve hiring speed in critical sectors, strengthen cross-border trust, and protect both worker rights and public safety - fully realising the potential of the single market for labour mobility.

efci.eu