Expert group opinion on international transport

Dredging does not fall under activities in international transport, says the expert group.

A case was submitted to the expert group concerning the ships of a Luxembourg company which were used for dredging and other surface water-related activities in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The question being whether these activities should be classified under the rules applying to employees in international transport, i.e. Article 15, section 3, of the treaty between the Netherlands and Luxembourg - under which the entire right to levy tax on earned income is apportioned to the employee’s country of residence.

In the expert group’s view these activities cannot be considered as work in the field of international transport.

In the event that people and goods are transported on these ships, in this case that is secondary to the main activity of dredging. This means that the results from the exploitation of the ship are not directly related to the commercial transport of passengers and goods by ship for the purpose of international transport.  

This opinion is consistent with previous case law. For example, in 2021 the Supreme Court ruled in relation to the treaty with Switzerland that "operational activities in international transport" may be said to exist where there is commercial transport of passengers and goods (solely) for the purpose of international transport.