Fireworks shops can claim compensation for the consumer ban
Retailers who lose New Year's Eve sales to the ban on private fireworks can apply to the state agency RVO for a year's lost profit plus 15% and €3,500 per shop.
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Illustrative photo: Stephan Sprinz / CC BY 4.0
Fireworks retailers can now apply for compensation for income they lose because private individuals may not set off fireworks this New Year's Eve. The scheme is run by the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), the government's enterprise agency. Around 14 applications had arrived by about 10:30 on the first day, the RVO said.
Why it matters
- Eligible retailers get one year of lost profit, plus a one-off 15% surcharge for one-off costs.
- They also get €3,500 per sales location, for up to five locations each.
- Applications close on 18 January at 17:00.
- The RVO plans to pay 80% of approved applications before 1 March 2027.
To qualify, a retailer must show it sold New Year fireworks around the 2025-2026 turn of the year. It must also have sold fireworks in December in at least one earlier year: 2022, 2023 or 2024.
Lost profit is an average profit percentage applied to the cost price of the retailer's earlier fireworks stock. The retailer picks the benchmark year: 2022-2023, 2023-2024 or 2024-2025. The amount is adjusted for inflation.
The Tweede Kamer voted for a general ban on consumer fireworks in April 2025, and the Eerste Kamer (Senate) followed in July 2025. The law took effect in August.
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Tweede Kamer
The House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful house of the Dutch parliament. Its 150 members are elected directly; it can amend bills and holds the cabinet to account.
RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland)
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency is the Dutch government's executive agency that carries out subsidy, grant and support schemes for businesses, entrepreneurs and sustainability projects on behalf of the national government. It administers both national and European funding programmes, and it also handles certain permit and compensation schemes that the government assigns to it. Because it runs these schemes, it is the body that receives applications and makes payments under them.
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