What’s changing in the Netherlands in summer 2025

Minimum wage increases

On 1 July, the legal minimum wage will increase by 2,46% to €14.40 per hour for full-time workers aged 21 and over. The rise follows an earlier change to how the minimum wage is calculated, which came into effect on 1 January 2024. Since that date, the minimum wage is being set at an hourly rate instead of monthly, ensuring the rate is the same for everyone.

AOW and WW benefits will increase by the same percentage.

Housing permit requirement for mid-market rented homes in Amsterdam

From 1 July 2025, new tenants of mid-market rented homes in Amsterdam must apply for a housing permit. This applies to homes with a monthly rent of up to €1,184.82 before bills or homes with 144 to 186 points in the home valuation system. Mid-market rental properties are intended for people with a middle income, and the housing permit will help the City to check if a tenant’s income matches this.

New tenants will need to apply for the housing permit themselves and may only move in once they have received the permit. Processing times are expected to be around two weeks but may extend up to eight weeks in some cases.

Accessibility of online services

On 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will be implemented, meaning online products and services such as taking out insurance, booking tickets or buying products online must be fully accessible to everyone. This means providers of these services must ensure websites and apps must be user-friendly for people with impairments to vision, hearing or mobility.

New rules for business waste

Since 6 May 2025, Amsterdam businesses have no longer been permitted to deposit their waste in loose rubbish bags on the street. A transition period has been in place to allow businesses to make new arrangements for their waste management. This period ends on 1 July, and the new rules will be enforced from then on. All waste must be placed in a wheely bin or collected from inside a building by a licensed waste collector. The bins must be labelled with the business name and address and placed on the street at set times and locations. Businesses that don’t follow the rules or dump their waste at household collection points risk a fine of a minimum of €550.

Business that produce a small amount of waste (up to nine bags per week) may be able to use the regular household collection days under certain conditions. Visit the Commercial waste page for more information.

Fairer access and use of data

The European Data Act comes into effect on 12 September 2025. Its goal is for consumers, businesses and public organisations to be able to access and share data from appliances and devices more easily – examples are data from cars or smart devices.

Smart devices must be safer

New rules governing the security of smart devices connected to the internet come into effect on 1 August 2025. These regulations include that devices such as routers, cameras, lights and baby monitors must have strong, user-created passwords. From 1 August, it will be illegal to sell products that don’t comply with these rules in the European Union. 

Registration and licence plate requirement for special vehicles

From 1 July, all new ‘special motorised vehicles’ (bijzondere bromfietsen) will be required to be registered and have a licence plate. A special motorised vehicle or ‘special moped’ (page in Dutch) is an innovative light vehicle with a maximum speed of 25 km/h that has with special features to distinguish it from an ordinary moped, such as Segways or BSO buses, the electric carts used to transport children from school to after-school care. Owners of authorised special motorised vehicles that are already in use on public roads have one year to register it with the Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW).

An end to ‘pledge bans’

From 1 July, businesses are permitted to use their outstanding invoices as security for a loan. Agreements prohibiting this, called ‘pledge bans’, are no longer valid.

Find out more

You can find more detailed information on the summer and autumn changes that are relevant for businesses on business.gov.nl and the Dutch Government website (in Dutch) and keep updated with news for the City of Amsterdam and Weesp. And if you aren’t already, don’t forget to sign up to the IN Amsterdam newsletters for regular updates on news and events of interest to the international community in the Amsterdam Area.