On Monday morning, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced that the Netherlands would not introduce the controversial 2G rules for now, saying that there was currently not enough time to draw up the necessary legislation.

No 2G rules on the way in the Netherlands

The Dutch government first announced the possibility of so-called "2G rules" - coronavirus certificates only for those who are vaccinated against or recovered from COVID-19 - at the press conference on November 12, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and De Jonge saying it was possible that new, tougher rules would come into effect once the current set of restrictions were lifted in December. 

Since then, more coronavirus measures have been introduced, but the 2G rules are nowhere to be seen. Now, De Jonge has confirmed that the toughening of the Netherlands’ coronavirus certificate system won’t be happening until the beginning of next year at the earliest.

“The government has established that, given the number of infections and the continuing pressure on the healthcare system, it is expected that there will not be time in the short term to...introduce a 2G coronavirus ticket," De Jonge told the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).