Doing Business in the Netherlands: the Chambers 2026 Global Practice Guide

BUREN has written the Netherlands Law and Practice section of the Chambers Doing Business In... 2026 Global Practice Guide, published by Chambers and Partners on 16 July 2026. The chapter sets out how Dutch law applies to companies that are entering the Netherlands, establishing a Dutch entity or already running Dutch operations from abroad.

The guide is written for readers who need a working understanding of Dutch law without being Dutch lawyers: in-house legal counsel, boards and management teams with Dutch subsidiaries, and law firms outside the Netherlands advising clients on a Dutch element of a wider transaction or dispute.

What the chapter covers
The Netherlands chapter follows the Chambers questionnaire and addresses eight subjects.

• Legal system. The Dutch civil law system, the court structure, and the specialist courts that matter in an international context, including the Netherlands Commercial Court and the Enterprise Chamber.
• Restrictions on foreign investments. Screening under the Security Test Act (Vifo Act), the sector regimes for electricity, gas, drinking water and telecommunications, notification procedures and the consequences of failing to notify.
• Corporate vehicles. The BV and the NV, partnership forms, incorporation before a civil-law notary, trade register and UBO registration, one-tier and two-tier boards, and directors' and shareholders' liability.
• Employment law. Contract types and the conversion of fixed-term contracts, working time, the Dutch dismissal system and the role of the UWV and the courts, transition payments, collective redundancies and works councils.
• Tax law. Personal income tax boxes and rates, wage tax and social security, corporate income tax, the participation exemption, dividend and conditional withholding tax, VAT, the innovation box, fiscal unity, earnings stripping, transfer pricing and anti-abuse rules.
• Competition law. Dutch and EU merger control thresholds, the ACM notification procedure, the cartel prohibition and abuse of a dominant position.
• Intellectual property. Patents and the Unitary Patent system, trade marks, designs, copyright, trade secrets, database rights and trade names.
• Data protection. The GDPR and the Dutch implementation act, territorial scope, international transfers, and the powers of the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

The full text is freely available on the Chambers website.

Two additional chapters in the BUREN edition
BUREN publishes its own formatted edition of the chapter, which contains two subjects that fall outside the Chambers questionnaire but come up constantly in practice.

• Litigation. How Dutch civil proceedings work in practice: starting a claim, litigating in English before the Netherlands Commercial Court, interim relief and summary proceedings, the limited scope of disclosure compared with common law systems, evidence and hearings, damages, appeal, costs recovery, collective actions and arbitration.
• Restructuring and insolvency. Suspension of payments, bankruptcy and the position of creditors, and the WHOA, the Dutch scheme of arrangement that allows a restructuring plan to be confirmed by the court and imposed on dissenting creditors.

Read the guide
The Netherlands chapter is available in full on the Chambers website.

Read the Netherlands chapter on Chambers

Request the BUREN edition
The BUREN edition brings all ten chapters together in a single PDF, including litigation and restructuring and insolvency. Email us and we will send it to you.

Request the guide 
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