As to the principles and objectives of European integration, the ITEM report reveals possible starting points on which cross-border labour mobility could be improved. Firstly, the Dossier on the so-called “90 %-rule” provides an illustrative overview (i.e. in terms of housing and labour mobility) of the in- and outflows of cross-border workers between the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries. It finds no evidence for an effect of the Dutch Qualifying Foreign Taxpayer Obligation on the number of foreign employees in the Netherlands, while stressing the outstanding legal questions in this regard and the elevated administrative burdens for frontier workers.

WNRA repercussions & Manure Fraud

Secondly, the WNRA-Dossier underlines the urgent need for more information and clarification from the Dutch government. It shows how complex the repercussions of a fundamental legislative change at the national level regarding the legal employment status of certain groups of workers can be for cross-border employment situations where work is conducted in two or more countries. Such repercussions are above all encountered in the field of social security (including pensions), dependent on a supranational coordination framework that determines the applicable legislation. Given the virtual absence of a thorough Cross-Border Impact Assessment prior to its adoption, this legislative change can entail sizable financial consequences for affected frontier workers and employers (like universities and academic hospitals), particularly those situated in border regions.

As regards sustainable socio-economic development, European and other countries have recently been beset with protests and demonstrations triggered by government measures as action against climate change. This shows the topicality of this year’s Student Dossier, composed by a group of students participating in the UM Law Faculty’s Honours+ programme. This Dossier provides an ex-post assessment of the European Nitrates Directive from 1991, which sets quotas for the level of nitrates in water and soil, including the use of manure. The analysis focuses on the effects of that directive and manure quotas, examining current practices in cross-border trade of manure and possible fraud at the Dutch-German border and how these complicate the compliance with the respective European environmental standards.

Last but not least, the theme of cross-border cooperation and the impact on Euregional cohesion are illuminated from various angles. The ECBM-Dossier discusses the merits and potential drawbacks of a new transnational legal instrument to bolster cross-border cooperation. This new mechanism, proposed by the European Commission, is to advance cross-border cooperation projects – for example, on infrastructure development and services of general economic interest – by offering a ‘standard’ procedure for resolving cross-border obstacles. Much potential is seen in the proposed legal leverage to be bestowed on project initiators for expediting the elimination of obstacles that result from diverging national legislations from either side of a border. This might be able to make a real difference for the expedient realisation of cross-border projects.

This is complemented by a preliminary assessment of the new INTERREG Regulation 2021-2027 and its new objective to allocate 15 % of the programme funds to ‘Governance’. This Dossier assesses what ‘Governance’ means to different stakeholders in programme areas in the Benelux. It focuses on the expectations how it may affect programme implementation and change the latter’s scope – especially, with a view to making cross-border cooperation structures more durable. Interestingly, one possible allocation for such targeted funding may be for making cross-border data structurally available, as pleaded in the Dossier on cross-border monitoring. This Dossier problematises how data collection is focused on the national level and it often ends at the border. It investigates the possibilities for enabling the structural production of cross-border statistics, including the establishment of a transnational network for their coordination at EU-level.

Social impact

Knowledge exchange is one of ITEM’s core activities next to scientific research, this includes citizens engagement.  To disseminate the research results and achieve actual societal impact, the ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment has been providing the basis for numerous (on-going) follow-up activities (see the Annex). For example, ITEM has been cooperating with partners – notably, the Dutch Social Insurance Bank (SVB) and Team GWO, a public service providing cross-border tax information – to organise information sessions about the impact of the new WNRA-law for concerned (cross-border) workers, their employers and intermediaries. The needs assessment and plea for cross-border data has been debated amongst others at the European Commission’s DG Regio Open Days, while the insights on the new ‘Governance’-objective have been shared and discussed during stakeholder consultations regarding the programme planning for the upcoming period INTERREG 2021-2027.

Since its establishment in 2015, ITEM has published three Cross-Border Impact Assessments. The ITEM Dossier 2019 is the most recent impact assessment carried out by ITEM. The ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment brings policy and practice together. Every year, ITEM stakeholders have the opportunity to propose restrictive cross-border issues. The subjects of the Cross-Border Impact Assessment of that year are then submitted to the selection process of the ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment Working Group. After completion of the selection process, the selected topics are examined in detail by ITEM researchers.

By the end of 2019, ITEM Stakeholders will again have the opportunity to raise with ITEM the issues that are important to them. The ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment Survey will be made available on the ITEM website in December.