Message Box

If you need to exchange businesss messages with Dutch government organisations, you can choose to use Message Box. Message Box allows entrepreneurs to exchange digital messages with Dutch government organisations. It is an official, secure, and reliable email system that makes sure your message will reach the right address and therefore offers (legal) certainty.

If you have a business in the Netherlands, you first have to create a Message Box using eHerkenning. If you have a business abroad, you must register with Answer for Business, which is part of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, RVO). Then you can add your Message Box when you register in the Business Register.

As soon as you have created your Message Box, you can receive and send government messages digitally instead of by post. You can also use Message Box for completing various procedures, such as permit or licence applications, notifications, and registrations. Or you can use it if you have any questions for Dutch governmental organisations about the way in which they apply rules in the Netherlands.

For whom?

Message Box is available for:

• Dutch resident and entrepeneurs
• Non-resident, foreign entrepreneurs from within the European Economic Area, who want to offer their services in the Netherlands.

For which procedures?

Message Box is intended for:

• all procedures that are covered by the Services Act
• a number of procedures from the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant
• applying for a permit for the import, export, and transit of strategic goods and services

Which governmental organisations are connected?

Message Box enables you to digitally exchange messages with:

• Dutch central government
• provincial authorities
• municipal authorities
• regional water authorities
• autonomous administrative authorities (Zelfstandige bestuursorganen, ZBO's), such as KVK
• other organisations with a statutory role

If you send your message via Message Box to any of these authorities, you will receive a notification of receipt. Afterwards you will receive their decision on your request and, if applicable, an invoice. If you do not hear anything, it may be that your request has been accepted implicitly. This is called lex silencio positivo. This obligation however only applies to procedures covered by the Services Act.

Questions?

Read the Message Box FAQ or contact the Message Box service desk. For information on how to set up an account, you can read Creating a Message Box account.