Registration telecom and mail delivery companies
Do you have a telecom company or are you a postal operator in the Netherlands? Mail delivery and telecom companies must register with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument en Markt, ACM).
How to register
To register with the ACM as a postal operator you need to choose if you want to register as a mail carrier or a parcel carrier (in Dutch). This includes details of the postal services you offer. If you perform both services, you have to complete both registrations.
Do you have a telecom company? Then you register as a telecom provider with the ACM (in Dutch). You need to use the registration form and provide a detailed description of the services you will be offering.
Registration is free of charge.
Public register
Once you are registered, you will be listed in the ACM's public register for postal and telecommunications companies (in Dutch). This register contains all companies that are active in mail or telecommunication services in the Netherlands.
Notification of changes
If anything changes after registration, you must report it to ACM immediately via email to registratiebureau@acm.nl.
If you are closing down your business or transferring your activities, you must notify ACM as well. You can use the Dutch-language form for deregistering a mail delivery company as well as a telecom company. For telecom providers a deregistration form in English is also available (pdf).
Reporting rates and turnover
You must report your net turnover from 2 years earlier (in Dutch). The ACM will send you a reminder to report your turnover before 31 December each year. This applies to telecom providers as well as mail delivery companies.
Are you a parcel carrier? Then you must also report the number of parcels processed and report the rates for sending mail and parcels abroad (in Dutch).
Note that parcel carriers must also report their turnover and other data each year before 30 June. ACM will send a questionnaire for that purpose.
Postal secrecy and complaints
Mail delivery companies must respect the right to secrecy of correspondence (in Dutch). This means that they must handle mail from sender to receiver safely, as well as have a proper complaints procedure.
Every mail and telecom company must have a proper complaints procedure.