The Netherlands’ data protection watchdog imposed a record 3.7 million euro ($4 million) fine Tuesday on the country’s tax office for unlawfully processing and storing personal information in a “black list” used to detect fraud, the Associated Press reported. Data Protection Authority’s Chairman Aleid Wolfsen said that the government’s Taxation Service “violated the rights of the 270,000 people on that list in an unprecedented way.” “For over 6 years, people were often wrongly labeled as fraudsters, with dire consequences,” said Wolfsen.
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The Dutch government announced Tuesday that it will scrap virtually all its remaining coronavirus restrictions by the end of the month as infection rates begin to decline and pressure on health care services eases, the Associated Press reported. “The country is opening up again,” Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said. The Dutch are following neighboring Belgium and other European nations in easing restrictions as the continent increasingly looks for ways of co-existing with the virus without the economic and social damage wreaked by lockdown measures.
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Prime Minister Mark Rutte further eased the Netherlands’ coronavirus lockdown, allowing bars, restaurants, museums, theaters and other venues to reopen from Wednesday for the first time this year, the Associated Press reported. But Rutte warned that the move wasn’t without risks. “We are taking a big step today to unlock the Netherlands while the infections numbers are really going through the roof,” Rutte said Tuesday.
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According to Statistics Netherlands, 1,536 companies were declared bankrupt in 2021, the NL Times reported. That number was only slightly lower in 1990 at 1,527. The stats office has been keeping track of this data since 1981. The number of bankruptcies fell in almost all sectors of industry. Most bankruptcies happened in trade, but that is also the sector with the most companies. The number of bankruptcies in the catering industry more than halved last year compared to a year earlier.
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The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday, Reuters reported. All non-essential shops and services, including restaurants, hairdressers, museums and gyms will be closed from Sunday until Jan. 14. All schools will be shut until at least Jan. 9. "The Netherlands is again shutting down. That is unavoidable because of the fifth wave that is coming at us with the Omicron variant," Rutte told a televised news conference.
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Dutch energy company Anode Energy plans to file for bankruptcy, the company said on Wednesday, the third in the Netherlands this year to become insolvent due to high energy prices, Reuters reported. Director Eric van Teeffelen said that the company, which supplies around 14,000 retail customers, had been forced to make the decision after its energy supplier could no longer meet its obligations. "We were forced to purchase on the spot market -- hedged prices are no longer available -- and the current prices are much higher, we can't endure it," he said.
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Dutch cooperative Rabobank said on Monday it had been ordered by the Dutch central bank to fix its customer due diligence practices and that it is facing a "punitive enforcement procedure," Reuters reported. In a statement, Rabobank said it had received an instruction from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on Oct. 12 to remedy deficiencies in its compliance with laws against money laundering. It said it was too early to say whether the procedure would result in a fine.
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More and more Netherlands residents have foreign savings accounts, the NL Times reported. This was reported by financial comparison site Geld.nl based on its own research. In recent months, in particular, foreign banks active in the Netherlands have seen their products become more popular. According to Geld.nl, this is because they offer relatively high interest rates. “If you look at the savings accounts, the top five with the highest interest rates are all accounts from foreign banks,” said expert Amanda Bulthuis of Geld.nl.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was providing its services in the Netherlands without the required registration, the Dutch central bank (DNB) said on Monday, in the latest regulatory hurdle for the company, Reuters reported. The company was not in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act, the De Nederlandsche Bank said, adding the warning applies to Binance Holdings Ltd and its entities that provide crypto services in the country.
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After Ben & Jerry’s, a Vermont-based ice-cream company and wholly owned subsidiary of global consumer-products giant Unilever that prides itself on its progressive politics, announced Monday that it is cancelling its license with its Israeli affiliate, a move that amounts to a boycott of Israel, a wave of legal and regulatory issues for its Dutch-American parent was triggered, the Wall Street Journal reported.