Customs replaces identification numbers that were based on social security numbers
Dutch customs will stop using the citizen service number of thousands of one-man businesses that have to use a European identification number for import and export. This is done by order of the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
Dutch entrepreneurs who send physical goods abroad must use the so-called EORI or Economic Operator Registration and Identification number. This is a European identification number. For self-employed entrepreneurs, the EORI number usually consists of the country code NL followed by their citizen service number. The Dutch Data Protection Authority has customs prohibited continue to use that number. From 30 September of this year, self-employed entrepreneurs will receive a new EORI number in which their citizen service number will no longer be used. It would concern 110,000 entrepreneurs.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority already started an investigation into the use of the BSN in 2018. The Tax and Customs Administration, which was responsible for customs at the time, promised to remove the citizen service number from the EORI at the end of 2019. That had not happened until now.
According to the privacy regulator, customs have no basis to process the citizen service number of entrepreneurs; there is no need for that. Customs violates the GDPR in this way, says the AP.
It would be possible for unauthorized persons to find out the BSN of entrepreneurs via the EORI number. The combination with data from the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce would put entrepreneurs at an unnecessarily high risk of identity fraud, the regulator concludes.
The Tax and Customs Administration has also used the citizen service number incorrectly for years. Self-employed entrepreneurs received a VAT number from the tax authorities, which for a long time was based on the citizen service number. The Dutch Data Protection Authority also put a stop to this in 2018. Since the end of 2019, all self-employed entrepreneurs in the Netherlands have had a new VAT number in which the BSN is not used.