Dutch government unveils €100 million compensation for fireworks ban
State Secretary Annet Bertram of Infrastructure and Water Management told the Tweede Kamer on Friday about the principles for compensating fireworks importers and retailers for losses caused by an upcoming nationwide ban on consumer fireworks.
The scheme is estimated to cost about 90 million euros. Because disadvantage compensation is an open-ended arrangement, the final amount could be higher or lower, so the government has reserved 100 million euros. Disadvantage compensation is a payment for disproportionate financial losses caused by lawful government action.
The announcement fulfills the final condition parliament set for the ban, which aims to reduce the kind of damage seen last New Year’s Eve. Private individuals suffered an estimated 16 million euros in insured damages, according to initial figures from the Dutch Association of Insurers released in January 2025.
Last year, parliament approved an initiative law proposed by GroenLinks-PvdA and the Partij voor de Dieren that bans the sale and use of fireworks by consumers.
The Tweede Kamer attached three conditions: rules for local exemptions, an enforcement plan, and fair compensation for affected businesses. The cabinet has already set the local exemption rules, now under review by the Council of State, and the minister of Justice and Security has sent the enforcement plan to parliament. Bertram’s letter addresses the compensation part.
Importers will receive compensation based on three years of lost profits for the coming New Year’s periods, plus extra payments for other costs such as staff severance and losses on remaining stock.
Retailers will have a simpler, faster system: one year of lost profits with a 15 percent markup, plus a flat 3,500 euros per company. The extra amount is intended to help smaller operators, for example, by covering the cost of ending a lease.
The different rules reflect how the sectors work. Fireworks trading is the main activity for importers, with a buying-and-selling cycle of about 16 months. For many retailers, it is a sideline to their main business, such as a bicycle shop or garden center.
Bertram said, "We have, as a cabinet, to deal with the right to disadvantage compensation on the one hand and the rules surrounding state aid on the other. Within these frameworks, we have looked for proper and fair compensation for fireworks entrepreneurs. In the weighing, it has been taken into account that the fireworks ban had been coming for some time and was foreseeable for these entrepreneurs. At the same time, there is understanding for the consequences of the ban, both for the importers and for the retailers. Even if the fireworks trade, in the case of the shopkeepers, is a side activity, that does not mean it does not hurt.”
With all three conditions now met, the cabinet considers the way clear for the ban. Both the Tweede Kamer and Eerste Kamer can still respond to the compensation rules and the decision on when the ban takes effect. The government aims for the ban to start Aug. 1 so it applies to the next New Year’s Eve.
