Additional COVID-19 measures announced in the Netherlands

Many companies have adopted or started to adopt return to work policies. These plans must now be put on hold. Our government announced additional measures during a national press conference on 28 September 2020 to combat the spread of the coronavirus as a result of the increase of the total confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the Netherlands.

Below we have summarized the most important measures to be followed by employers. For a more extensive overview we refer to the following links: English / Dutch.

• Employees should work from home, unless there is really no other option. The work place can be closed for 14 days if an infection occurs at the place of work. This measures seems much stricter than the recommendation of the government in March/April 2020 to work from home as much as possible or to spread the working hours. Insofar as possible our advice is to put the return to work policies on hold and urge employees to work from home (again).

• There is no ban on travelling. The advice is to keep travel to a minimum. Avoid travelling to other (office) locations and (continue) to contact each other virtually.

• In buildings other than in a household, no more than 4 people can form a group. Children under the age of 13 are excluded from this amount.

• The number of people in a room is limited to 30 people. There are exceptions such as public transport.

• Retailers will need to limit the number of shoppers to ensure that the 1.5 meter rule can be applied.

• Not only restaurants, cafés and bars have to request their customers to provide their names and contact details, also people working in contact-based industries such as hair dressers must ask their customers to provide their names and contact details. In the event of an infection the municipal health service (GGD) can start tracing contacts on the basis of this information.

• Establishments serving food and drinks must be closed by 22.00 and cannot accept new customers after 21.00.

• Supermarkets, restaurants, shops, etc. can at their own discretion impose their customers to wear face masks. This sector will have the authority to reject customers if they do not wear face masks.

In the event that you have any questions in relation to the measures and the impact the measures will have on the work floor, please contact us.