Why “suddenly” do customers have to sign a contract?

The existence of a contract with customers is not new.
AAXE has until now used the ONEM model (Service vouchers department) as a user agreement for a domestic help in Service vouchers . This agreement was not obligatory. It is therefore the 2001 law on Service vouchers and its implementing orders which governed the obligations and rights of the parties as well as common law, in the absence of a signed agreement.
Our obligations include making sufficient equipment and products available to the housekeeper. Likewise the fact that we must guard against any form of harassment or discrimination…

Currently, this is still the case, but the Brussels-Capital Region filed an Ordinance on October 13, 2023, published in the Belgian Official Gazette on December 8, 2023, which requires that an agreement be signed between the approved Service vouchers company and users.

It is imperative that this agreement be signed between the parties, because, otherwise, the order provides that in the absence of an agreement in 2025, not only will the housekeeper no longer be able to work at the client’s home, but the Titres-Services voucher company is exposed to administrative fines or even suspension of approval.

But rest assured, there is the text, which is important because it recalls the rights and duties of everyone, but there is also the AAXE Titres-Services Voucher spirit that we want to preserve.

Below we provide you with a more technical summary of these new planned obligations.

• The ordinance of October 13, 2023 was published in the Belgian Official Gazette on December 8, 2023 and will come into force on the date determined by the Brussels government. This would be for January 1, 2025. The execution order remains to be finalized.
• The reform contains new measures. They are, each time, punished by administrative fines, the amounts of which are far from negligible.
  • A commercial contract now mandatory if services take place at home:
    • The approved company and the user conclude a work services agreement within the framework of the domestic help activity when this is carried out at the user’s place of residence;
    • The upcoming decree defines the minimum provisions which must appear in the agreement and in particular:
    • The mandatory characteristics of the equipment or products made available by the user;
    • The reminder of the prohibition of harassing and/or discriminatory behavior;
    • Reminder of authorized and prohibited tasks;
    • The terms of execution and cancellation of the planned service and the resulting invoicing;
    • The user’s consent to a prior visit to the home for the organization of work;
    • The terms provided by the approved company in the event of damage caused to property or people in the context of the execution of the agreement;
  • The approved company must have its commercial agreement signed by any new user before the first work performance: no work can take place until the approved company has the agreement signed with the user;
  • If the company is not able to provide this proof, the administrative fine will amount to 20,000 EUR;
  • For existing customers, the approved company will have a transitional period of 6 months to have all signed commercial agreements (if the entry into force of these new provisions is January 1, 2025, all agreements for existing customers must be signed by June 30, 2025 at the latest);
  • If, at the end of these six months, the user has not signed the agreement with the approved company, the latter will immediately suspend any work provided as a Titres-Services voucher. If this is not the case, the administrative fine will be 20,000 EUR;