Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012 - American Chamber of ...

this pension agreement, they confirmed the conclusions of the
aforementioned commissions and they set out the main features for
amending the Dutch pension system. Subsequently, on June 2011, the
social partners and the Minister of Social Affairs agreed upon a
second pension agreement, which agreement is an elaboration of the
agreement in 2010.
Main topics of the pension agreement are:
� Increase of the AOW age to 66 in 2020 and likely to 67 in
2025;
� The AOW commencement date will become flexible
(postponement or acceleration is possible upon adjustment of
the AOW-benefit);
� Increase of the AOW-benefit amount;
� Obstacles to continue employment after the AOW age will be
removed;
� Pension entitlements in the second pillar will become more
conditionally.
It is expected that in 2012 several legislative proposals will be
submitted to the Lower House in order to amend the Pension Act, the
governance structure within pension funds and tax legislation.
15.7.2 New Pension Providers
The European Pension Directive (IORP Directive), which took effect
at the end of 2005, is an initial step towards a European internal
market for pension schemes by allowing pension institutions to
operate across borders. Based on the IORP Directive, the Dutch
Cabinet announced that they would introduce a new type of pension
provider: the General Pension Institution (Algemene
Pensioeninstelling, API). The main objective of introducing the API
144 Baker & McKenzie