Transgender Act: the withdrawn self-identification bill
No new Transgender Act came into force in 2024. The bill that sought to allow the legal gender marker to be changed on the basis of self-declaration (Parliamentary Paper 35825) never became law. On 2 July 2025, the government announced that it was withdrawing the bill. Anyone wishing to change the gender marker on their birth certificate still needs an expert statement. See also the information provided by the Dutch government on the rules that have applied since 2014.
The rules currently in force
Since the 1985 Act, it has been possible to change the gender marker on a birth certificate. At the time, this had to be done through the courts, with physical adjustment and infertility as requirements. Since the Transgender Act of 1 July 2014, surgery and infertility have no longer been required. However, an expert statement is still required, and the change is possible from the age of sixteen. The procedure is explained on the page about changing legal gender registration. The background to the law is set out on the page about the Transgender Act in the Netherlands.
What the bill entailed
The government submitted the bill to the House of Representatives in May 2021, under then-Minister Dekker. The mandatory expert statement would have been abolished. Anyone aged sixteen or older would have been able to arrange the change directly with the civil registrar. A third or subsequent change would have required an application to the court. Children under sixteen would have been able to apply to the court for a change. This approach is often referred to as self-identification. Germany has had such a system since 1 November 2024; in June 2026, the German state justice ministers called for stronger safeguards against abuse, and a UN rapporteur warned that the law does not adequately protect women and girls, as described in the article about Germany’s call for tighter rules on the self-identification law.
The debate in the House of Representatives
The House of Representatives debated the bill on 27 and 28 September 2022; see the archive article on the 2022 parliamentary debate. The debate did not progress beyond the first round, and no vote was held. In September 2023, the House declared the bill controversial, bringing its consideration to a standstill. The House majority subsequently called on the government twice to withdraw the bill. According to NOS, the SGP, JA21, FVD, NSC, PVV and BBB voted in favour. The article on parliamentary attention explains how the House continued to address gender-affirming care.
The criticism and the response
Critics pointed to the consequences for sex-segregated facilities and activities, such as women’s shelters, sport and prisons, as well as the position of young people. This debate is described on the page about feminist criticism of the Transgender Act. SGP MP Diederik van Dijk said when the bill was withdrawn that vulnerable young people benefit from caution, not from removing the age limit and the expert statement requirement. Supporters regarded the expert statement as an unnecessary barrier. GroenLinks-PvdA MP Westerveld called the withdrawal a step backwards and pointed out that discrimination, exclusion and violence against trans people are increasing at an alarming rate.
The withdrawal
On 2 July 2025, State Secretary for Legal Protection Struycken announced that the government was withdrawing the bill. The withdrawal letter is dated 11 August 2025 and reached the House of Representatives on 13 January 2026. The Senate never considered the bill. The documents are available in the archive under the bill to amend legal gender registration. The practical implications of the withdrawal are explained on trans-nederland.nl, in the dossier on the withdrawn Transgender Act.