# Minister rejects claim self-employed bill upsets labour market deal

> Minister Aartsen of Work and Participation says the draft Zelfstandigenwet, the self-employed persons act, fits the advice of the Social and Economic Council (SER) and is not yet final.

Economy · published 2026-11-10 05:53 · https://nlnow.nl/a/minister-rejects-claim-self-employed-bill-upsets-labour-market-deal/

Minister Aartsen (Work and Participation) rejects the view that the draft Zelfstandigenwet breaks the medium-term advice of the SER or upsets the balance of the labour market package. "Deze mening deel ik niet," he said in written answers to parliamentary questions, received on 9 November.

The act is meant to give more clarity on when work falls outside an employment relationship, tackle false self-employment (schijnzelfstandigheid) and leave room for genuine self-employment. Aartsen says these goals can go hand in hand.

> Anyone who consciously chooses to work as a self-employed person, and genuinely works independently, must get the room to do so.
> — Minister Aartsen

The act was not part of the originally agreed labour market package, he says, but belongs to a wider modernisation of the labour market. The cabinet weighs the measures together, including those on incapacity for the self-employed, taxation and the regulation of flexible work.

The bill is not final. Social partners gave input in the online consultation (internetconsultatie), which is now being processed. They will also be consulted in the regular coordination with the Stichting van de Arbeid, as is usual for labour market legislation.

A limited number of elements may be worked out later in an algemene maatregel van bestuur (AMvB, a government decree). They concern which provisions count towards the criterion that a worker spends a minimum amount on protection against the risks of self-employment, that minimum amount, and the characteristics indicating self-employment in the self-employed test. The explanatory memorandum describes how the government wants to fill these in, and consultation input will be weighed.

## Background

- **Zelfstandigenwet**: The Zelfstandigenwet is a Dutch bill (wetsvoorstel) that sets rules for self-employed people who work without staff (zelfstandigen zonder personeel). It covers when a worker counts as genuinely self-employed rather than an employee, and requires self-employed workers to spend a minimum amount on protection against the financial risks of working for themselves. Its scope and content are set out in the bill and in the rules that follow from it.
- **SER (Sociaal-Economische Raad)**: The Social and Economic Council is the Dutch advisory body in which employers' organisations, trade unions and independent appointed members advise the government and parliament on social and economic policy and labour law. Its advice is not legally binding, but the government and parliament take it into account when making labour market and social policy. The SER also has a role in the consultation on proposed labour market rules.
- **AMvB (algemene maatregel van bestuur)**: An algemene maatregel van bestuur is a government decree, made by the Crown (the King together with the responsible ministers) on the basis of authority granted in an existing law. It is used to fill in details that the law leaves open, such as technical criteria or amounts, and it is published in the Staatsblad. Parliament does not vote on an AMvB in the same way as on a law, which is why it is a common way to set out implementing rules.

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