In August of this year, we already informed you that the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) had advised blocking the home addresses of self-employed persons in the Trade Register. Meanwhile, there have been developments in the field of the disclosure of home addresses in the Trade Register

The Dutch Council of Ministers has agreed to an amendment to the 2008 Trade Register Act. This means that as of January 1, 2022, the Chamber of Commerce will hide all residential addresses of entrepreneurs and directors in the Trade Register. These private addresses will then only be accessible to government agencies and certain professional groups (such as bailiffs).

The purpose of blocking the residential addresses is to prevent the misuse of these data. Think of unsolicited marketing, intimidation and threats.

This sounds like good news, but unfortunately the legislation is not yet entirely conclusive. After all, while the Data Protection Authority advised (out of privacy considerations) at the end of August 2021 to make the home addresses of self-employed persons available only to certain professional groups and organisations, that advice has not yet been followed. Addresses that are registered as business addresses will still be retrievable after 1 January 2022.

This means that entrepreneurs who conduct their business from their home address (small businesses and self-employed persons) can still be found in the Trade Register. The privacy protection for this category of entrepreneurs has therefore not yet been completed.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change is currently working on the Data Vision for the Trade Register, which will map out what can be done to protect the privacy of entrepreneurs with the same residential as business address.

We will of course keep you informed of any further developments!

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