See II.2.4

SOLVA is an intermunicipal partnership between 21 cities and municipalities in South-East Flanders.

In 2018, 13 cities and municipalities completed an ambitious climate plan under the guidance of the province of East Flanders, SOLVA and the South-East Flanders Regional Consultation. As an intermunicipal partnership for 21 municipalities in South-East Flanders, SOLVA wants to fully fulfil its exemplary role and has therefore also drawn up an internal climate plan. Within this climate plan, we want to work on making commuting more sustainable by offering company bicycles to employees.

In the event of an expansion, SOLVA wishes to include the possibility of offering lease bikes to municipal staff as an action in the implementation of the climate plan for the affiliated cities and municipalities. The Council of Ministers of 18 September 2020 dealt with the legal status regulations of the local and provincial authorities in response to the corona pandemic. This decision also creates the possibility for local authorities to have staff exchange holidays and/or part or all of their holiday allowance and/or part or all of their end-of-year allowance for benefits to promote bicycle mobility on a voluntary basis.

It is left to local authorities to decide which measures they consider most appropriate. However, the introduction is always done within the provisions of this decree and on the basis of the following premises:

- The will autonomy of the staff member is central. This means that the staff member has complete freedom as to whether or not to exercise his or her choice and that the staff member cannot, explicitly or implicitly, be forced to make a choice. The staff member should also have the possibility to evaluate and change his choice after a certain period of time (e.g. annually);

- The concrete elaboration and application of the project is left to the local authorities. It is up to the local authorities to determine the modalities, eg. in the event of early termination of the multiannual agreement;

- The application of the project may not be a means of optimisation with regard to social security contributions or taxation. The guaranteed freedom of choice also makes it impossible for the employer to use this scheme to optimise wages, since it has no impact on the choices made by its employees. The same applies to withholding tax;

- The project is implemented with respect for the hierarchy of sources of law and it operates within the limits of the existing regulations.

The partners of SOLVA wish to encourage their employees to make more use of environmentally friendly means of transport, such as the bicycle, primarily for commuting, but also for private travel. In order to lower the threshold for the purchase of an (electric) bicycle and to reduce the CO2 emissions from commuting, SOLVA wishes to appoint a leasing company that leases bicycles according to the principles of wage exchange. With this initiative, the affiliated boards stimulate sustainable mobility.

The staff member can choose which make and model he/she prefers and, on that basis, put together his/her ideal bike (and accessories), supplemented with any options such as roadside assistance, insurance and maintenance budget, permitted within the framework (brands and bicycle dealers) of the leasing company.

SOLVA and its partners hereby aim to carry out a cost-neutral operation for them, with a minimum administrative burden for both its own operation, the operation of its partners and for the employee who wishes to make use of the bicycle lease system.

SOLVA and its partners are also concerned about the end-of-life story of the bicycles and therefore foresees the possibility to ... (see assignment documents)