The date that the Future Pensions Act will come into effect in the Netherlands has been delayed from the 1 January 2023 to 1 July 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions, Carola Schouten, has announced.

Schouten made the announcement in response to a parliamentary question from Pieter Omtzigt, stating that it was not plausible to complete the legislative procedure this calendar year.

She described the possibility of the Future Pensions Act going into effect on 1 January as “unrealistic”.

The act is currently making its way through the Dutch parliament, with legislative consultations scheduled for the coming weeks to discuss the act in the House of Representatives.

Following this, the plan is to hold plenary debate in the House of Representatives in early November, although the house will not decide whether the bill is ready for plenary debate until after the consultations.

Once debate has been completed in the House of Representatives, the draft bill can be submitted to the Senate for approval.

Although there is a plan in place for passing the bill, there are still several aspects of the act that are yet to be agreed upon.

Additionally, the house is divided over whether it should wait for the recommendations of the Parameters Committee and, if they do wait, further debate could not take place until December.

In response to the parliamentary question, Schouten said: “It is ultimately up to the house to proceed to plenary discussion. I cannot and will not intervene in this.

“However, as someone responsible for the system, I want to offer clarity to the sector. Given the careful treatment to which the Senate also attaches great importance, I do not consider it plausible to complete the legislative procedure in the Senate this calendar year either.

“It is therefore unrealistic to expect the Future of Pensions Act to go into effect on January 1, 2023. I am therefore amending the target date for it to go into effect. The next change date for legislation is July 1, which is what I am aligning with.”

Commenting on the announcement, APG director of policy implementation, Peter Gortzak, said: “For APG, both careful handling and speed are important. APG is proceeding with implementation based on working hypotheses to avoid implementation delays.”

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