Minimum wage and rents up: what changes from July 1

A new batch of laws, benefit changes and price rises takes effect on July 1, as it does every half-year. Here is a round-up of the main changes to watch for.

Minimum wage and benefits
The legal minimum wage rises from €14.71 to €14.99 gross an hour for everyone aged 21 and over, an increase of 1.9%. Benefits linked to it go up too, including unemployment, incapacity and disability payments and social assistance. The net state pension for people living alone rises to €1,581.55 a month, and child benefit increases in line with consumer prices.

Rents
Social housing rents can rise by up to 4.1% this year, down from last year’s 5% ceiling, and rooms in shared housing by the same amount. People on higher incomes can be charged an extra €50 or €100 a month on top, depending on what they earn.

Housing corporations say their rents will go up by 3.6% on average, taking the typical social rent to €666. Increases for mid-market and private homes, 6.1% and 4.4%, took effect in January.

Non-EU parcels
Anything ordered from a webshop outside the EU, such as the Chinese platforms Temu and Shein, now carries a €3 import charge, as the EU scraps the exemption for packages worth under €150. The charge applies per type of product: order two identical T-shirts and you pay once, but a T-shirt and a USB cable cost €6.

Cold calling
Companies can no longer phone you to sell something unless you have given permission, even if you are or were a customer, and they can no longer call from a withheld number. Charities, lotteries that give to good causes, and newspaper and magazine publishers are exempt.

Power grid waiting lists
Households applying for a heavier electricity connection, to fit a heat pump or car charger for example, can be put on a waiting list if the local grid is full. Until now only large users faced such queues. In Noord-Brabant and much of Utrecht, new connections and upgrades are already on hold.

Tobacco sellers
Shops selling cigarettes, vapes and other tobacco products must register with food and product safety board NVWA, as the government tries to reduce the number of outlets. Supermarkets are already banned from selling tobacco.

Cameras in new cars
Every new car sold in the EU must have a system that warns drivers when they are not paying attention to the road. The rule takes effect on 7 July.

Bank transfers
Banks can be ordered to hold a payment for up to five days if the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit suspects it is linked to money laundering or terrorist financing, giving investigators time to act.

Lorry charge
Lorry owners start paying for every kilometre driven on motorways and some provincial roads, with a lower rate for cleaner, lighter vehicles. Road tax for lorries is scrapped until the end of 2026 because of high fuel prices, and the tax on vans is halved for the same period.

Other changes
Tachographs become compulsory for vans of 2,500 to 3,500 kilos used for international transport. New childminders must complete a teaching module before starting. Employment agencies must be told when a temporary worker has a workplace accident and report it to the labour inspectorate. And environmental rules on building materials are tightened for offices and introduced for the first time for schools, shops and factories.

A separate batch of new rules took effect on January 1.