Dutch Platform Work Act consultation closes, setting up an employment presumption for platform freelancers
Public consultation on the Netherlands’ draft Wet platformwerk (Platform Work Act) closed on 24 August 2026. The bill, published for comment by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment on 29 June, transposes EU Directive 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform work. It now goes to the Council of State for advice before reaching Parliament.
The draft introduces a rebuttable presumption of employment: where a digital labour platform meets at least two of five criteria indicating direction and control over how the work is done, the person doing that work is presumed to be an employee, and the platform carries the burden of proving otherwise. The bill also imposes duties on algorithmic management, including limits on automated processing of certain categories of personal data, mandatory data protection impact assessments, human oversight of significant automated decisions, a right to an explanation and to human review, and data portability. The presumption applies from the date the law enters into force and is not retrospective. The Netherlands will not meet the directive’s 2 December 2026 transposition deadline.
Why this matters
If you invoice through a digital platform in the Netherlands – delivery, ride-hailing, care, cleaning, or the growing set of white-collar task platforms – this bill decides whether you are treated as self-employed or as an employee by default. Reclassification brings holiday pay, sick pay, pension accrual and dismissal protection, and removes the freelance deductions and flexibility you may have built your income around. The five criteria turn on how far the platform controls your rates, hours, conduct and ability to work for competitors, and how it monitors your work. If a platform sets your price and penalises you for declining jobs, you are the person this presumption is aimed at.
Context
This is separate from the Dutch government’s other freelancer reforms. Bill 36783, which creates an employment presumption below an hourly rate of €38, enters into force on 31 December 2026 and applies across the labour market rather than to platforms specifically. The Wet platformwerk targets platform-mediated work and the algorithmic control that goes with it, and both sit on top of the DBA Act enforcement that resumed in 2025. Cyprus opened its own consultation on the same directive in August and Sweden’s transposition is due by December 2026, so enforcement is likely to diverge across member states.
What to watch
The Council of State’s advice will indicate how far the bill survives intact, and the final criteria list is what freelancers should read closely when the text reaches Parliament. For the wider picture on working independently in the Netherlands, see our Netherlands remote work guide.