This page contains information on statutory alcohol marketing regulations in the Netherlands (table 1); a description of the restrictions per medium (table 2); labelling information (table 3); information on self-regulations on alcohol marketing (table 4); the complaints procedure; a summary about the Dutch regulations on alcohol marketing and exhaustive, downloadable documents from the ELSA & FASE research projects.
Updated October 2018
Table 1 | Statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in the Netherlands | Coverage |
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![]() | Drank- en Horecawet (Alcohol Licensing and Catering Act) | Only store shelves. (It dictates that alcoholic beverages must be seperated from non-alcoholic beverages on the shelves of stores). Article 2 of the Alcohol Licensing and Catering Act gives the minister of Health, Welfare and Sport the competence to regulate alcohol advertising in an order in council. But until now there is no such regulation in force. This Act will be evaluated in 2016. |
Media wet 2008 (Media Act 2008) | TV, radio. RTL Nederland - which is focused at the Netherlands but established in Luxembourg, has voluntarily agreed to adhere to the rules relating to the time-ban (note: RTL Nederland has not agreed to adhere to the rules on product placement and sponsoring). |
Table 4 Self-regulations on Alcohol marketing in the Netherlands | Coverage |
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Reclamecode voor Alcoholhoudende dranken (RVA) STIVA (Advertising Code for Alcoholic Beverages) | TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media (since 1 January 2012 restrictions on alcoholmarketing via social media), outdoor, print, promotional items |
Richtlijn Horecapromoties STIVA (Guidelines Catering Promotions) | Catering promotions (e.g. price, number of drinks) |
The following document contains an in depth (but older) overview of alcohol marketing regulations in the Netherlands: alcohol-marketing-regulations-Netherlands.pdf
For more (but older) information on alcohol marketing regulations in the Netherlands, please take a look at Netherlands’s appendix to the 2007 ELSA (Enforcement of national Laws and Self-regulation on advertising and marketing of Alcohol) report.