Country profile NLD
National Legal Framework
National Legal Framework
| Provision | Legislation date | Convention | Legislation info | sources | Value | sort_order | Provision description | Legislation description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum age for admission to work | 1995-11-23 | C138 | Working Hours Act - Articles 1.2 and 3.2.1 | [{"link_name":"Working Hours Act","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007671/2022-08-02#Hoofdstuk3"}] | 16 | 1 | C138 establishes 15 as the minimum age for work in general. Developing countries have the option of setting a minimum age of 14 as a transitional measure as they strengthen their education systems and economies. | While Article 1.2 defines a child as a person aged below 16, Article 3.2.1 states that no child should be employed. |
| Is the use, procuring or offering of children for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs, prohibited? | 03-03-1881 (Amendment 2005) | C182 | Criminal Code - Article 273f.1.2. and Article 273f.2. | [{"link_name":"Criminal Code","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/2024-07-01/0#BoekTweede_TiteldeelXVIII"}] | Yes | 11 | C182 prohibits the use, procuring or offering of children for illicit activities in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs. | Article 273f.1.2. punishes any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives another person, including the exchange or transfer of control over that other person, for the purpose of exploiting that other person or removing organs from that other person, where that other person has not reached the age of 18. In addition, Article 273f.2. states that exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of another person for the purposes of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced or compulsory labor or services, including begging, slavery and practices similar to slavery, servitude, and the exploitation of criminal activities. |
| Is the use, procuring or offering of a child for the purpose of prostitution and for production of pornography prohibited? | 03-03-1881 (Amendment 2005) | C182 | Criminal Code - Articles 273f, 252 | [{"link_name":"Criminal Code","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/2025-07-01"}] | Yes | 10 | C182 prohibits the use of a child under the age of 18 for prostitution, regardless of the child's consent. The use, procuring or offering of any person under the age of 18 for commercial sexual exploitation constitutes a worst form of child labour, even if prostitution is a legalised. In regard to the prohibition of child pornography, States need to make sure that national legislation addresses the involvement of a child in the production of pornographic materials, including non-recorded performances. | The production, distribution, exhibition, importation, forwarding, exportation and possession of child pornography are criminal offences in the Netherlands. Article 252 of the Code punishes anyone who distributes, offers, openly displays, produces, imports, transports, exports, acquires, possesses or obtains access to a visual representation of a sexual nature or with a manifestly sexual intent in which a person who is manifestly under the age of 18 is involved or appears to be involved, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to six years or a fifth-class fine. In addition Article 273f of that same text, prohibits various forms of human trafficking, including the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. |
| Is forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 for use in armed conflict prohibited? | 1931 | C182 | Defence Civil Servants Act - Article 1.a | [{"link_name":"Defence Civil Servants Act","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001952/2023-02-18/#TiteldeelI_Artikel1a"}] | Yes | 9 | C182 defines forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 for use in armed conflict as a worst form of child labour. Nevertheless, C182 only prohibits the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18, and does not cover the voluntary recruitment of children under 18. | According to Article 1.a of the Act, only those who have reached the age of 18 can be appointed as military officers. |
| Is the sale and trafficking of children for sexual and labour exploitation prohibited? | 03-03-1881 (Amendment 2005) | C182 | Criminal Code - Article 273f (b)(e)(h) | [{"link_name":"Criminal Code","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/2024-07-01/0#BoekTweede_TiteldeelXVIII"}] | Yes | 8 | C182 defines all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour as worst forms of child labour. | Articles 273f (b)(e)(h) criminalises child trafficking and provides that any person who (b) recruits, transports, moves, accommodates or shelters a person with the intention of exploiting that other person or removing his or her organs, when that person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years; (e) induces another person to make himself/herself available for performing sexual acts with or for a third party for remuneration or to make his/her organs available for remuneration or takes any action towards another person which he knows or may reasonably be expected to know that this will result in that other person making himself/herself available for performing these acts or making his/her organs available for remuneration, when that other person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years; (h) wilfully profits from the sexual acts of another person with or for a third party for remuneration or the removal of that person’s organs for remuneration, when this other person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years. |
| List of hazardous activities prohibited for children | 1997-01-15 ; 2023 | C138 & C182 | Working Conditions Decree - Article 4.105 ; Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023 - Article 1.1 (2) and (3) | [{"link_name":"-Working Conditions Decree","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0008498/2025-02-01"},{"link_name":"-Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007195/2025-07-01"}] | Yes | 7 | C138 and C182 require the national determination of a list of hazardous work prohibited for children under 18 years of age. The competent authorities should consult with workers' and employers' organizations to determine what types of employment or work are considered to be hazardous. | Article 4.105 of the Working Conditions Decree provides a list of hazardous substances and biological agents that young workers must not work with or be exposed to. The Article also specifies that young workers shall not perform any work involving vats, basins, pipes, or reservoirs containing one or more of the substances or biological agents mentioned above. In addition, Articles 1.1 (2) and (3) of the Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023 provides further occupations for which children cannot be employed. |
| Minimum age for hazardous work | 1997-01-15 ; 2023 | C138 & C182 | Working Conditions Decree - Articles 1.1-6, 4.105 ; Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023 - Articles 1.1 (2) and (3) | [{"link_name":"-Working Conditions Decree","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0008498/2025-07-01"},{"link_name":"-Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007195/2025-07-01"}] | 18 | 6 | C138 and C182 set 18 as the minimum age for hazardous work, which is defined as work that, due to its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardize children’s health, safety or morals. C138 and C182 allow countries to permit hazardous work exceptionally as from 16, provided that the health, safety and morals of the young persons concerned are fully protected and that they have received adequate specific instruction or training. | While Article 1.1-6 of the Working Conditions Decree defines a young workers as a person below the age of 18, Article 4.105 stipulates that young workers shall not perform work with or be exposed to a hazardous substance as referred to in the EC Regulation on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. In addition, Articles 1.1 (2) and (3) of the Further Regulation on Child Labour Act 2023 provides that children should not be employed in hazardous occupations. |
| Minimum age for admission to apprenticeship | 1995-11-23 | C138 | Working Hours Act - Article 3.2 | [{"link_name":"Working Hours Act","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007671/2022-08-02#Hoofdstuk3"}] | 14 | 5 | C138 does not apply to work done in school for general, vocational or technical education or in training institutions or work done by children at least 14 years of age in undertakings, where such work is carried out in accordance with conditions prescribed by the competent authority. Such work must be an integral part of: (i) a course of education or training for which a school or training institution is primarily responsible; (ii) a programme of training mainly or entirely in an undertaking, which programme has been approved by the competent authority; or (iii) a programme of guidance or orientation designed to facilitate the choice of an occupation or of a line of training. | Article 3.2 of the Working Hours Act allows children of 14 years and older to to be employed for an apprenticeship insofar as it is performed in addition to and in connection with education. |
| Is the minimum age for admission to work not less than the age for completion of compulsory schooling? | 1986 (2016 Amendment) | C138 | Compulsory Education Act 1969 - Article 3 | [{"link_name":"Compulsory Education Act 1969","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0002628/2024-01-01/#Paragraaf3"}] | Yes | 4 | C138 requires member States to align the age of completion of compulsory education with the minimum age for admission to employment or work. | According to Article 3 of the Compulsory Education Act, compulsory education begins on the first school day of the month after the young person turns 5 years old and ends at the end of the school year after the young person has attended school for at least 12 full school years; or at the end of the school year in which the young person turns 16, which aligns with the minimum age for admission to work. |
| Light work - Determination of types and conditions of activities | 1999-11-01 | C138 | Further regulations on child labour Act 2023 - Articles 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 | [{"link_name":"Further regulations on child labour Act 2023","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007195/2025-07-01"}] | Yes | 3 | If the country chooses to allow light work, States must determine what activities are considered light work, and the hours and the circumstances under which they may be carried out. | Article 1.1 defines light work as work that is not too heavy, does not pose a hazard or is not harmful to health; and Articles 1.2 and 1.3 list activities that can not be considered light work. |
| Minimum age for light work | 2023 | C138 | Further regulation on child labour Act 2023- Articles 2.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 10.1 | [{"link_name":"Further regulation on child labour Act 2023","source_link":"https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007195/2025-07-01"}] | 13 | 2 | C138 defines light work as work that does not interfere with children’s schooling, or their ability to benefit from it, and that is not hazardous. C138 allows countries to permit light work for children younger than the general minimum age. For countries that set the minimum age at 15, this means children aged 13-14, and for those that set it at 14, children aged 12-13 may engage in light work. | Articles 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 10.1 of the Text regulate the conditions under which the employment of a child aged 13 to 14 years for light work may be carried out. In addition, Article 2.1 sets that, as an alternative sanction, exeptions can apply to children from the age of 12. |
International Legal Framework
International Legal Framework
| Ratification status | Convention | Convention description | Date of ratification | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in-force | C182 | Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) | 14-FEB-2002 | Source |
| in-force | C138 | Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) | 14-SEP-1976 | Source |
Policies and Plans
Policies and Plans
| Description | sources | Period | Policy name | Implementing agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Netherlands is a Pathfinder Country of the Alliance 8.7, a global partnership committed to eradicating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labour. As part of this initiative, the Netherlands has developed a comprehensive roadmap towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7. This roadmap outlines the strategic objectives and actions necessary to make significant progress in these areas. The main objectives of the Netherlands' roadmap are: Encourage Businesses and Offer Instruments: Promote responsible business conduct (RBC) and provide tools to tackle child labour and labour exploitation in supply chains, both nationally and internationally. Promote National and International Dialogue: Foster dialogue on SDG 8.7 related to global supply chains and root causes, involving various stakeholders. Ensure Effective Monitoring and Analysis: Implement effective monitoring systems to track progress and impact on SDG 8.7, sharing evaluations and conducting targeted investigations. | [{"link_name":"Pathfinder Roadmap of the Government of the Netherlands","source_link":"https://www.alliance87.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Roadmap%20of%20the%20Netherlands%202023-2025.pdf"}] | 2023-2025 | Pathfinder Roadmap of the Government of the Netherlands | Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment |
| The action plan describes how the government expects companies to conduct business with respect for human rights both in the Netherlands and abroad. The action plan also specifies what the government can do to support businesses and encourage them to observe human rights, for example by combating child labour. The plan includes action points aimed at improving policy in recognition of the following: The state’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights;The responsibility of businesses to respect human rights; The responsibility that states and businesses share to ensure that victims of human rights abuses have access to effective remedies. | [{"link_name":"National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights","source_link":"https://globalnaps.org/country/netherlands/"}] | 2022-2026 | National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| The Dutch Child Guarantee National Action Plan submitted on 21 April focuses on: Reimbursing 95% of the costs of early childcare to all working parents; Investing an extra billion euro each year to improve the quality of Dutch education; Continuing efforts to improve comprehensive maternal care; Setting Healthy Schools Coordinators for each school in the Netherlands by 2040; Combatting homelessness and the housing crisis, by accelerating the construction of new homes to around 100,000/year. Every two years, the government presents a progress report on the implementation of the plan, which latest can be found in the following sources. | [{"link_name":"-The Netherlands' Child Guarantee National Action Plan","source_link":"https://eurochild.org/uploads/2022/09/8.-Netherlands-Child-Guarantee-National-Action-Plan-Overview.pdf"},{"link_name":"-Progress report on the implementation of the plan","source_link":"https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=27661&langId=en"}] | 2022 | The Netherlands' Child Guarantee National Action Plan | Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport; The Ministry of Security and Justice; The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment; The Ministry of Education |