Licensing of temporary employment agencies

Temporary employment agencies are employment agencies that offer temporary employment positions. They must obtain a licence in order to do so. Temporary work is authorised only for performing a temporary job. Temporary work is possible only under certain circumstances authorised by the law.

Temporary employment agencies may also offer job-seeking, recruitment and selection and outplacement services and also find positions for professional athletes and performance artists.

Agencies that are already licensed in Flanders, Brussels or in the German-speaking Community for the provision of temporary employment activities may submit a simplified application (exemption) in order to provide their services in compliance with the law in Wallonia.

These agencies must, however, meet the obligations set out by the Decree of 3 April 2009 on the registration or licensing of employment agencies, including the submission of an annual activity report.

These agencies are, however, free to submit a licence application in accordance with the traditional procedure. If they do so, they avoid a situation in which the withdrawal of their licence in another region automatically leads to the loss of their exemption in Wallonia.

To follow the full licensing procedure, agencies must tick the box on the form stating that they wish to submit a licensing application.

The agency will have to complete the application form as a temporary work agency.

Belgian agencies have to submit their application for authorisation as a temporary work agency online via a new electronic form available in the “Mon Espace” platform.

People wishing to access their company's Professional Space on “Mon Espace” must have a Belgian identity card and have previously received an invitation from the Principal Access Manager (GAP) appointed within the company. All the documentation relative to this procedure can be found in the "Help Center" on “Mon Espace”. Click here to learn how to use “Mon Espace”.

Foreign agencies that do not have a Belgian company number have to submit their application for authorisaton as a temporary work agency using a Word form.

The temporary work agency which already has an authorization in one of the other regions of Belgium can benefit from a simplified procedure and obtain an exemption. This request for exemption is also made using the authorisation request form.

Applications for authorisation as a temporary work agency are subject to a prior analysis by the Administration. They are then transmitted to the Economic and Social Committee of the Walloon Region for opinion. It is the competent minister who will ultimately make the decision to grant or refuse approval as a temporary employment agency.

The temporary employment agency receives an agreement number initially for a period of two years. After this period, the agreement can be renewed for an indefinite period.

Employment agencies are obliged to submit an annual activity report containing:

• quantitative and qualitative data
• data outlined by the Consultation and Dialogue Committee for employment issues of the Economic and Social Council (CESRW)

The objective is to guarantee the visibility and transparency of the regional labour market.

Agencies have to submit the activity report online on the “Mon Espace” platform. Click here to learn how to use “Mon Espace” (available only in French)
Foreign agencies, and only those ones, which cannot yet access My Space due to lack of authentication compatible with our system, have the option of completing the report in a Word form.

Please note that the activity report must be completed by 06/30 of year N at the latest. For 2021 activities, the activity report must therefore be completed by 06/30 of the year 2022 at the latest.

This Commission is part of the Walloon Region Economic and Social Council.

The missions of this Committee are to issue reasoned opinions on:

• the licensing of temporary employment agencies
• the different types of services involved
• the suspension or withdrawal of licences from temporary employment agencies
• all issues relating to job-finding in general and to temporary employment
• and to submit an annual activity report to the Government and to the Walloon Parliament

The composition of this Committee:

• a President and a Vice President
• representatives of employer organisations
• representatives of employee organisations
• representatives of Government

This Committee includes a Consultation Chamber whose role is to:

1° organise the collection of data between:

• the Walloon vocational training and employment office, the Forem
• the employment agencies
• the temporary employment agencies

2° to organise the sharing of the data exploitation results by the Forem

3° to organise cooperation in areas of common interest between:

• the Forem
• the employment agencies
• the temporary employment agencies

4° to submit proposals to the Government on ways of increasing the transparency of the regional labour market, and in particular to establish a framework for the collection of information.

As well as representatives of the Consultation Committee, this Chamber includes:

• representatives of the Forem,
• representatives of the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Prospective and Statistics ( IWEPS)
• on invitation, experts whose presence is considered necessary