Regulation of remote work in Free Trade Zones

Decree 319/022 of 29 September, which regulates article 129 of Law No. 19,996/2021, sets out the requirements and conditions for employees under the free trade zone regime to benefit from remote work.

The rule allows employees to perform their duties remotely, provided the following requirements are met:

• An agreement is signed between the employee and the employer.
• Remote work is carried out exclusively from the employee's private home, located in Uruguay.

In addition, to benefit from remote work, the Decree requires the user to keep a certain proportion between on-site and remote work. To that end, it sets a number of conditions that must all be met:

• 90% of the employees who work remotely must work at least 60% of their monthly hours on site.
• The total monthly hours worked on site by all employees must amount to at least 60% of the working hours of the user's entire payroll.
• In any case, users must reach a minimum of 1,000 (one thousand) hours worked on site per month across their entire payroll.

Remote work is not available to every free trade zone employee. The Decree provides that only full-time employees may benefit from it, that is, according to the rule, those hired for at least 25 hours a week.

The Decree also sets out prohibitions. Free trade zone employees may not work remotely if they:

• Carry out operational production or manufacturing, distribution or logistics activities.
• Carry out core commercial activities (sale, promotion, display or delivery of goods, or similar activities).
• Carry out ancillary or complementary activities, such as public relations, handling of supporting documents, invoicing or collections.

Finally, the Decree requires the Free Trade Zone Developer to keep a register as determined by the National Free Trade Zones Directorate. The register will include the agreements signed, the employees covered by the remote work regime, on-site days and hours, and the periods for which the information must be kept.

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