Frequently Asked Questions

You will automatically receive a payment slip six or eight weeks before your Netherlands Museum Pass expires. If you wish to renew immediately, log into My Netherlands Museum Pass and renew your Netherlands Museum Pass.

Tacit renewal of your Netherlands Museum Pass is no longer permitted, so paying by direct debit is no longer possible.

If you prefer not to receive a new Netherlands Museum Pass, no action is required. The Netherlands Museum Pass will expire automatically.

If you wish to cancel to ensure you do not receive any further correspondence from us: call, email or send us a letter.

• Call us on working days from 09:00 to 17:00, on 0900 - 40 40 910 within the Netherlands.
• Send an email to Customer Services.
• Send a brief letter to Netherlands Museum Pass Customer Services:

Klantenservice Museumkaart Postbus 5020 2900 EA Capelle a/d IJssel, Netherlands

State your name and Museum Pass number clearly in your email or letter. We will cancel your Netherlands Museum Pass.

Call us on working days from 09:00 to 17:00, on 0900-40 40 910 within the Netherlands. We will block your lost or stolen Netherlands Museum Pass immediately. We will send you a new Netherlands Museum Pass within five working days, subject to a one-off payment of €4.95.

Unfortunately not. Only original Netherlands Museum Passes are valid for admission to a museum. Your Netherlands Museum Pass is registered, strictly personal and therefore unique. Only the person whose personal details, including a photo, is on the Netherlands Museum Pass is entitled to the benefits of the Netherlands Museum Pass. A photo of your Netherlands Museum Pass on your phone is therefore not valid at the museums.

If you forget to register your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass, you will unfortunately not be entitled to free admission to museums. Register your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass on the website as soon as possible. You can use the standard Netherlands Museum Pass you receive within five working days to visit museums.

You can register your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass after the indicated 31-day period. You will then need to wait until you receive your standard Netherlands Museum Pass before you can use it at a museum.

With some cards it is not possible to register. Mail Customer service and include the following information; Subject: Unable to register card, Card number(s), date of purchase and in which museum purchased

We will ensure that the card is reactivated or you will receive a new number to register. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You will receive your Museum Pass within 5 to 8 business days after payment. Once you receive your new Museum Pass, you can use it immediately. Your old card is no longer valid from that moment on.

Did you not receive your Museum Pass? Please contact customer service. It is important to report this within 6 weeks after the expiration date of your old card. Contact information for customer service can be found here.

1:

You can buy your Netherlands Museum Pass on our website (payment can only be made via iDeal). You will then receive your Netherlands Museum Pass by mail within five to eight working days. You can only use your Netherlands Museum Pass to visit a museum once you have received it.

At the museum

To visit a museum you can buy your Netherlands Museum Pass on-site. Check which Museums sell the Netherlands Museum Pass on the website. A Netherlands Museum Pass bought at a museum can be used immediately.

Temporary Netherlands Museum Pass

When you buy a Netherlands Museum Pass at a museum, you will be given a temporary Netherlands Museum Pass valid for 31 days. Please register your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass on our website as soon as possible. This ensures we can issue a Netherlands Museum Pass with your personal details and send it to your home address.

You can visit a maximum of five museums with your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass. When you buy it, this will be counted as your first visit, whether or not you enter the museum at that time. Your temporary Netherlands Museum Pass will remain valid until you receive your standard Netherlands Museum Pass, but will no longer be valid after you receive it.

No family Netherlands Museum Pass is available. The Netherlands Museum Pass is strictly personal. It is intended to be used only by the person whose personal details and photograph are on the Netherlands Museum Pass. You can, however, order several passes on My Netherlands Museum Pass, including for friends or family. You can also add other Museum Passes to your account at My Netherlands Museum Pass.

Yes. A temporary Netherlands Museum Pass is valid immediately after purchase. NB: when you buy the temporary Netherlands Museum Pass on-site, that museum will be counted as your first visit. If you give it to someone else, that first visit will have been deducted from the five visits available.

You can visit a museum five times with a temporary Netherlands Museum Pass. If you give the Netherlands Museum Pass to someone else who is not present at the time of purchase, s/he will only have four visits remaining. S/he can then register on the website in their own name, within 31 days. S/he will then receive their standard Netherlands Museum Pass at their home address within five working days.

If you have bought a Netherlands Museum Pass but have not received it, we will send a new Netherlands Museum Pass free of charge. However, you must notify us within six weeks of the expiry date of your old Netherlands Museum Pass, subject to a one-off registration fee of € 6. Contact us as soon as possible if you have not yet received your Netherlands Museum Pass. Check this page how to reach us.

Your home and email addresses are only used to contact you on behalf of the Netherlands Museum Pass, for example, to send you the standard Netherlands Museum Pass. If you have indicated your agreement, you will receive our monthly Museumtips newsletter in Dutch, with exclusive offers for Netherlands Museum Passholders. Read our Privacy Notice for further information.

Court of Appeal rules that the individual right to privacy in one specific case must yield to the general interest in the correct levy of taxes

On 5 November 2019, the court ruled on appeal that the Tax Authorities rightly requested the visit data of one specific Netherlands Museum Passholder. The Netherlands Museums Association, issuer of the Netherlands Museum Pass, finds this ruling regrettable and remains firmly behind the principle that in our country a visit to a museum should be a matter of security and freedom. For the association, and many who stand behind it, the interest of the fundamental right in society of unrestricted cultural learning weighs heavily. By emphasizing that this ruling pertains to one individual and specific case, the Court of Appeal confirms that this must not automatically lead to the blanket request of privacy-sensitive information on a massive scale, and that the Tax Authorities must exercise their powers in this area “prudently”.

The ruling of the Court of Appeal follows the decision of the preliminary relief judge last autumn ordering the Netherlands Museums Association to immediately submit the visit data of a holder of a Netherlands Museum Pass to the Tax Authorities. The Netherlands Museums Association did comply with this order at the time, but because the privacy of all Netherlands Museum Passholders is a matter of principle, the association also appealed the decision, which was ruled on by the court on 5 November 2019. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal determined that in this one, specific case, the Tax Authorities used their investigative powers rightly. However, in so doing the Court of Appeal also barred the way to further requests for mass sweeps of data on the activities of passholders in general. This means clarity for the holders of Netherlands Museum Passes, who can be secure in the knowledge that they can continue to visit museums freely and without restriction.

The Netherlands Museums Association concludes that only in extremely exceptional situations will the general interest in the correct levy of taxes outweigh an individual’s right to privacy. This ruling may be an indication of how legislation and regulations should be applied in an age in which digital data is becoming more and more widespread. The Netherlands Museums Association can now go back to fully focusing on the challenge faced by over 400 museums across the country: building an ongoing connection between all inhabitants of the Netherlands and the wealth of museum collections in our country.

If your household has two or more Netherlands Museum Passes with different expiry dates no more than six weeks apart, the amount on the form covers all the Netherlands Museum Passes. The start and end date of the various Netherlands Museum Passes remain unchanged.