News item | 30-06-2025 | 15:22
The penalty maximum of participation in a terrorist organization is increased from 15 to 20 years, child support debts will soon be given priority over other debts and licensed providers of online gambling are no longer allowed to sponsor sports clubs or competitions. On July 1, 2025, various laws entered into force in the field of justice and safety. Below the overview.
Changes Code of Criminal Law and Strengthening Victim Rights
An important change in the Criminal Code will come into effect on 1 July 2025. The criminal maximum for participating in a terrorist organization that has the intention of committing the most serious terrorist crimes is increased from 15 to 20 years. With this tightening, the approach to serious terrorist threat is further enhanced.
At the same time, the rights of victims of crimes are expanded. On the same date, for example, the General Administrative Order for Protection of Victim Data in procedural documents comes into effect, as part of the Expansion of Victim Rights Act. This measure ensures that personal data of victims, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, are now only included in the criminal file if this is necessary for a judicial decision. This prevents suspects, convicts or other process participants from gaining unnecessary access to sensitive information. The Public Prosecution Service and the police are obliged to apply this protection from 1 July 2025 in the preparation of official reports and other procedural documents, which contributes to stronger privacy protection and legal position of victims in the criminal proceedings.
Prohibition of sports sponsorship by online gambling providers
From 1 July, licensed providers of online gambling are no longer allowed to sponsor sports clubs or competitions in the Netherlands. Sports shirts, billboards or banners with the name or the (image) brand of the gambling provider are therefore a thing of the past. This is the last part of the Decree Decree Decree Decree (Decree on Orka). The aim is to better protect vulnerable groups against the risks that games of chance entail. This applies in particular to minors and young adults. Previously, unfocused advertising in the public space, such as television, radio and billboards, already prohibited, as well as sponsoring events such as festivals and radio and television programs. The prohibition on sports sponsorship is now the last because sports sponsorship often involves longer -running contracts and the sport has been given the opportunity to find other sponsors. The Gaming Authority supervises online gambling providers and this prohibition. This supervision will be further tightened this summer.
Prohibition of designer drugs in force
As of July 1, 2025, the ban on designer drugs, also called ‘new psychoactive substances’, is in force. Due to a change in the Opium Act, entire groups of these substances can be prohibited in one go, instead of per substance separately. As a result, the government and investigation services can act faster against the production, trade and possession of these hazardous substances, the operation of which often resembles already forbidden drugs such as XTC or amphetamine. The aim is to combat undermining crime and protecting public health, in particular of young people who use these resources under the misconception that they would be ‘legal’ and therefore safe.
Legal basis for personal approach to radicalization
The Data Processing Personal -Focused Approach for Radicalization and Terrorist activities obliges mayors from 1 July to organize case meetings on (presumably) radicalized persons and offers a clear legal basis for data exchange between the organizations involved. This makes the existing practice codified, AVG-proof and provided with extra guarantees for careful data processing.
Discrimination as a criminal tract land legally laid down
The initiative law of the MPs Timmermans and Bikker enters into force on 1 July 2025 and introduces the discriminatory aspect as a legal general criminal ground. This means that when a criminal offense is committed with a discriminatory motive, the penalty can be increased by a third party. In addition, the law modernizes the terminology in discrimination legislation by replacing “hetero or homosexual orientation” with “sexual orientation” and “physical, psychological or mental disability” by “disability”. In this way, protection against discrimination is strengthened and better tailored to current social and legal standards.
Child support debts receive preference status
From July 1, 2025, child support debts will receive a preference status. This means that child support debts are given priority over other competing debts, such as debts at web stores or telephone providers. The purpose of this is that children receive more and rather child support if the person liable for maintenance has debts with multiple creditors. If there are several creditors, the money to pay the debts first goes to the preference debts. What remains is distributed among the other creditors (the competitor creditors). Research by the National Office inning Maintenance contributions (LBIO) has shown that the granting of a preference to the child support will lead to more and faster inbarious child support, and therefore to more available financial resources for the care and education of children.
Deposit pledging prohibitions
As of 1 July, the Defense Procedure Properties Act will enter into force. Medium -sized and small companies often have outstanding claims with debtors, such as unpaid accounts. They cannot regularly use these claims as collateral for loans because their debtors, often large companies, do not allow that. Book 3 of the Dutch Civil Code is amended with the Development Property Beres Act so that these business money claims can be used as collateral for financing. This increases the credit space for small and medium-sized businesses and therefore their room for investments. Debtors must be informed in writing with the new law if the claim is transferred by a company or pledged to someone else. This ensures that they always know if their debt has to pay to someone else. New agreements that exclude the transferability of claims are void from 1 July. A transition period applies to existing agreements, those agreements are void after three months, so on October 1, 2025.
New rules for assessment declaration of behavior
Policy rules state how an application for a declaration of behavior (VOG) is assessed. As of July 1, 2025, these rules will be adjusted due to the so -called end store statement. This is a new final judgment of the judge showing that the criminal case has been closed. Since 1 October 2022 it is possible to use mediation after the investigation at the hearing – mediation between the suspect and victim under the supervision of a mediator, with the aim of finding a solution. If the mediation is successful, the judge may decide to terminate the criminal case. This is then done via an end store statement. There is then no conviction. The new policy rules record how such an end store statement is taken into account when assessing a VOG application.