Doing Business 2015: Netherlands Summary
Core Content Overview
The Doing Business 2015 report evaluates the regulatory environment for businesses across 189 economies, including the Netherlands. It measures 11 key areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, getting electricity, registering property, and resolving insolvency, using distance to frontier (DTF) scores and ease of doing business (EoDB) rankings. These metrics help assess how close an economy is to the best regulatory practices globally and provide insights into how regulatory reforms impact business operations.
Main Indicators and Rankings
Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Ranking
- Netherlands DB2015 Rank: 27
- Netherlands DB2014 Rank: 26
- Change in Rank: -1
- EoDB DTF Score (2015): 75
- EoDB DTF Score (2014): 75
- Change in DTF: 0
The Netherlands maintains a strong position in the EoDB ranking, slightly improving its rank from 2014 to 2015, but its DTF score remains unchanged.
Key Topics and Performance
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Starting a Business |
21 |
18 |
14 |
25 |
27 |
28 |
114 |
45 |
New Zealand (1) |
| DTF Score |
94.08 |
94.06 |
94.42 |
93.40 |
93.10 |
93.00 |
81.38 |
91.23 |
New Zealand (99.96) |
| Procedures |
4.0 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
5.0 |
9.0 |
6.0 |
12 Economies (1.0) |
| Time (days) |
4.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
5.5 |
14.0 |
4.5 |
14.5 |
6.0 |
Singapore (26.0) |
| Cost (% of income per capita) |
5.0 |
5.2 |
5.0 |
0.2 |
1.1 |
0.9 |
8.8 |
90.1 |
Japan (0.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Dealing with Construction Permits |
100 |
99 |
82 |
5 |
33 |
86 |
8 |
17 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (1) |
| DTF Score |
70.11 |
70.13 |
73.68 |
89.84 |
81.61 |
73.14 |
87.42 |
85.06 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (95.53) |
| Procedures |
13.0 |
13.0 |
10.0 |
7.0 |
15.0 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
9.0 |
4 Economies (1.0) |
| Time (days) |
161.0 |
161.0 |
212.0 |
64.0 |
64.0 |
183.0 |
96.0 |
105.0 |
Singapore (26.0) |
| Cost (% of warehouse value) |
3.8 |
3.7 |
1.1 |
2.3 |
0.8 |
4.7 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
Qatar (0.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Registering Property |
58 |
59 |
171 |
8 |
38 |
126 |
89 |
68 |
Georgia (1) |
| DTF Score |
75.02 |
75.02 |
42.27 |
92.61 |
80.58 |
59.36 |
67.78 |
72.55 |
Georgia (99.88) |
| Procedures |
5.0 |
5.0 |
8.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
8.0 |
5.0 |
6.0 |
4 Economies (1.0) |
| Time (days) |
2.5 |
2.5 |
64.0 |
4.0 |
32.0 |
49.0 |
40.0 |
21.5 |
3 Economies (1.0) |
| Cost (% of property value) |
6.1 |
6.1 |
12.7 |
0.6 |
4.0 |
6.1 |
6.7 |
4.6 |
4 Economies (0.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Getting Credit |
71 |
67 |
89 |
23 |
36 |
71 |
23 |
17 |
New Zealand (1) |
| DTF Score |
50.00 |
50.00 |
45.00 |
70.00 |
65.00 |
50.00 |
70.00 |
75.00 |
New Zealand (100) |
| Strength of legal rights index (0–12) |
3 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
3 Economies (12) |
| Depth of credit information index (0–8) |
7 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
23 Economies (8) |
| Credit registry coverage (% of adults) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
96.4 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
44.5 |
1.3 |
0.0 |
Portugal (100.0) |
| Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) |
79.4 |
79.9 |
0.0 |
7.8 |
19.6 |
0.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
23 Economies (100.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Protecting Minority Investors |
94 |
91 |
40 |
17 |
76 |
17 |
51 |
4 |
New Zealand (1) |
| DTF Score |
51.67 |
51.67 |
61.67 |
67.50 |
55.83 |
67.50 |
59.17 |
78.33 |
New Zealand (81.67) |
| Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) |
4.7 |
4.7 |
7.0 |
6.7 |
6.0 |
5.7 |
5.0 |
8.3 |
Singapore (9.3) |
| Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) |
5.7 |
5.7 |
5.3 |
6.8 |
5.2 |
7.8 |
6.8 |
7.3 |
France (7.8) |
| Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) |
5.2 |
5.2 |
6.2 |
6.8 |
5.6 |
6.8 |
5.9 |
7.8 |
New Zealand (8.2) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Paying Taxes |
23 |
23 |
81 |
12 |
21 |
95 |
68 |
16 |
United Arab Emirates (1) |
| DTF Score |
86.76 |
86.51 |
74.18 |
91.94 |
88.36 |
72.12 |
77.02 |
90.52 |
United Arab Emirates (99.44) |
| Payments (number per year) |
9.0 |
9.0 |
11.0 |
10.0 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
9.0 |
8.0 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (3.0) |
| Time (hours per year) |
123.0 |
123.0 |
160.0 |
130.0 |
93.0 |
137.0 |
218.0 |
110.0 |
Luxembourg (55.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Trading Across Borders |
13 |
13 |
26 |
7 |
14 |
10 |
18 |
15 |
Singapore (1) |
| DTF Score |
89.22 |
89.10 |
85.55 |
92.23 |
89.10 |
90.18 |
87.67 |
88.32 |
Singapore (96.47) |
| Documents to Export |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
Ireland (2) |
| Time to Export (days) |
7.0 |
7.0 |
9.0 |
6.0 |
9.0 |
10.0 |
9.0 |
8.0 |
5 Economies (6.0) |
| Cost to Export (US$ per container) |
915.0 |
925.0 |
1,240.0 |
795.0 |
615.0 |
1,335.0 |
1,015.0 |
1,005.0 |
Timor-Leste (410.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Enforcing Contracts |
19 |
18 |
10 |
34 |
17 |
10 |
13 |
36 |
Singapore (1) |
| DTF Score |
75.10 |
75.10 |
77.67 |
68.79 |
75.58 |
77.67 |
76.74 |
68.08 |
Singapore (89.54) |
| Time (days) |
514.0 |
514.0 |
505.0 |
410.0 |
375.0 |
395.0 |
394.0 |
437.0 |
Singapore (150.0) |
| Cost (% of claim) |
23.9 |
23.9 |
17.7 |
23.3 |
13.3 |
17.4 |
14.4 |
39.9 |
Iceland (9.0) |
| Procedures |
26.0 |
26.0 |
26.0 |
35.0 |
33.0 |
29.0 |
31.0 |
29.0 |
Singapore (21.0) |
| Topic |
Netherlands (2015) |
Netherlands (2014) |
Belgium (2015) |
Denmark (2015) |
Finland (2015) |
France (2015) |
Germany (2015) |
United Kingdom (2015) |
Best Performer (2015) |
| Resolving Insolvency |
12 |
10 |
11 |
9 |
1 |
22 |
3 |
13 |
Finland (1) |
| DTF Score |
83.77 |
84.11 |
83.87 |
84.59 |
93.85 |
75.94 |
91.78 |
82.04 |
Finland (93.85) |
| Time (years) |
1.1 |
- |
0.9 |
1.0 |
0.9 |
1.9 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
Ireland (0.4) |
| Cost (% of estate) |
3.5 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
9.0 |
8.0 |
6.0 |
Norway (1.0) |
| Outcome (0–1) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
| Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) |
88.9 |
89.5 |
89.1 |
87.5 |
90.2 |
77.2 |
83.4 |
88.6 |
Japan (92.9) |
| Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) |
11.5 |
11.5 |
11.5 |
12.0 |
14.5 |
11.0 |
15.0 |
11.0 |
5 Economies (15.0) |
Key Insights and Findings
- The Netherlands ranks 27th globally in the Ease of Doing Business ranking in 2015, slightly declining from 26th in 2014.
- The Distance to Frontier (DTF) score remains 75 in both 2015 and 2014, indicating that the Netherlands is not far from the best practices.
- The Netherlands performs well in several areas, such as starting a business (rank 21) and getting electricity (rank 90), but lags behind in dealing with construction permits (rank 100) and resolving insolvency (rank 12).
- Getting credit is a significant challenge, with a DTF score of 50.00, placing it at 71st globally.
- Paying taxes is relatively efficient, with a DTF score of 86.76, ranking 23rd.
- The labor market regulation indicators are not included in the aggregate EoDB ranking, but they are still analyzed separately.
- The Netherlands has a high credit bureau coverage (79.4%) and moderate credit registry coverage (0.0%), which may impact the depth of credit information.
Methodology Updates in Doing Business 2015
- Ease of doing business ranking is now based on distance to frontier scores.
- Data for 11 large economies (including the Netherlands) now include two cities for more accurate benchmarking.
- Getting credit now includes strength of legal rights index and depth of credit information index, both with increased scoring scales.
- Protecting minority investors and resolving insolvency have expanded scopes, including corporate governance and legal framework assessments.
- Paying taxes now uses a nonlinear approach for the total tax rate component.
- Employing workers has been renamed to labor market regulation and now includes labor disputes and worker benefits.
Conclusion
The Netherlands has a strong regulatory environment overall, maintaining a high EoDB ranking and a stable DTF score. However, there are areas for improvement, particularly in dealing with construction permits, getting credit, and resolving insolvency. The report highlights the importance of comparing with comparator economies and understanding regulatory bottlenecks to support policy reforms. The DTF scores provide a more nuanced view of progress over time, allowing for a deeper analysis of regulatory efficiency.
