The new Danish Holidays Act has been adopted

As described in some of our previous newsletters, the European Commission stated in April 2015 that the current Danish Holidays Act was not in compliance with EU legislation, i.e. because of the deviation in the time for the accrual of holidays and the actual leave period.

Therefore in August 2017, the established Holidays Act Committee published a proposal for a new Holidays Act which has now been subject to a broad political agreement on 31 October 2017.

The proposal for the new Holidays Act was agreed as published. Previously, we have published articles describing "the road to" and the content of the new Holidays Act which can be found in the following links:

1. "The Danish Holidays Act is not in compliance with EU rules"
2. "New Danish Holidays Act finally in the pipeline"

The most recent newsletter describes the general content of the rules in the new Holidays Act as introduced.

When does the new Holidays Act enter into force?

The new rules enter into force on 1 September 2020.

The reason for the long transition period is among other things to ensure that the parties to the collective bargaining agreements get a chance to amend these according to the new holiday rules. Furthermore, the aim is to ensure that it is taken into consideration that the transition to the new rules will happen simultaneously for all employees to keep the administrative burden as low as possible for the employers and that the transition will run as smoothly as possible.

Bird & Bird's comments

Bird & Bird will keep you posted when the new Danish Holiday Act has been formally adopted and can advise on the Act and the transition hereto from the current Holidays Act.