Dutch Scheme/WHOA proceedings: court fees significantly reduced

As of 1 July 2025, court fees in WHOA procedures have been significantly reduced. With this measure, the legislator aims to improve access to the Act on Confirmation of Private Plans (the Dutch Scheme or by its Dutch acronym: the WHOA), especially for smaller businesses. This measure is part of the Collective Justice and Security and Asylum and Migration Act 2025 (Verzamelwet Justitie en Veiligheid en Asiel en Migratie 2025, Stb. 2025, 124).

What is the WHOA again?
The WHOA has existed since 1 January 2021 and is an important tool for companies to avoid bankruptcy by restructuring and settling debts through a private agreement. However, the WHOA can also be used to wind up a company’s business activities in a controlled manner through a liquidation agreement. The WHOA creates a legal basis for an agreement outside bankruptcy, whereby creditors can be forced to accept it, even if they vote against it. Because this can sometimes have far-reaching consequences, the WHOA procedures include safeguards and rules that this agreement procedure must meet.

Evaluation and Criticism of Costs
In December 2023, an evaluation report by the University of Groningen and Leiden University, commissioned by the WODC, was published. It showed that the WHOA is mainly used in practice by larger companies. For many small SMEs, the procedure is simply too expensive. Not only the costs of legal assistance, but also the high court fees form a barrier. This applies not only to the entrepreneur who wants to offer the agreement, but also to creditors or shareholders who want to oppose it.

New, lower court fees
To remove these financial barriers, the court fees have been adjusted as of 1 July 2025. Both debtors and creditors benefit from this amendment.

• Request for Confirmation of Agreement (by the debtor): 
  The court fee for submitting a confirmation request now falls within the lowest rate category. For sole proprietorships (natural persons running a business), this means a reduction from EUR 2,723 to EUR 331. For legal entities (such as BVs), the rate drops from EUR 6,861 to EUR 714.
   
• Request for Rejection of Confirmation (by creditors or shareholders): 
  The fee for submitting a request to reject the confirmation has also been reduced. Where this previously depended on the amount of the claim or the interest of the shareholder, the lowest rate now also applies here: EUR 331 for natural persons and EUR 714 for legal entities. Previously, this varied between EUR 3,000 and EUR 10,000.

No Stacking of Court Fees within One WHOA Procedure
Within one WHOA procedure, a debtor can submit multiple requests to the court, for example, first a request for a cooling-off period and later a request for confirmation of the agreement. Until now, this meant that court fees had to be paid again for each separate request. With the recent legislative amendment, this has changed: from now on, the previously paid court fee will be offset against the court fee for a subsequent request within the same procedure. This prevents unnecessary cost increases and makes the WHOA process more financially accessible.

Incidentally, case law (ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2025:210) already provides that when several (legal) persons make an identical request for the announcement of a cooling-off period that is handled jointly and involves more than just a connection, only one court fee is charged to the relevant (legal) persons .

Accessibility Improved

With this court fee reduction, the legislator hopes to make the WHOA more accessible to a broader group of entrepreneurs. The aim is that smaller companies in financial difficulties can also use this important restructuring tool and thus avoid bankruptcy.

Want to know more? 

Would you like more information about the Dutch Scheme (WHOA)? Then view our Dutch Scheme/WHOA page here. Of course, you can also contact one of our specialists. Our specialists are happy to assist you.