A 15-year-old buys two weekend passes for your festival online, € 180 in total. A week later their mother calls: her son didn't have permission, and she wants the money back. Do you have to refund?
It depends on the buyer's age, the amount, and what counts as "customary". There is a second question too: what personal data may you ask minors for, and how do you check an age limit at the gate without building up a pile of copied ID cards? This article walks through the rules for organisers of festivals, sports events, school parties and performances in the Netherlands, with the relevant articles of law.
A note for international readers: the age of majority in the Netherlands is 18. The contract rules below come from the Dutch Civil Code; the privacy rules come from the EU's GDPR plus the Dutch act that implements it. Other EU countries apply the same GDPR, but may have chosen a different age (between 13 and 16) for children's consent, and their contract law differs.
Can a minor buy a ticket on their own?
The basic rule is in Article 1:234 of the Dutch Civil Code. A minor can enter into a contract if their legal representative, usually a parent, consents. The third paragraph makes this workable: consent is presumed when it concerns a transaction that, in ordinary social life, minors of that age customarily carry out on their own.
What is customary isn't listed in a table. There is no age set in law and no amount under which it is always fine. Some reference points:
- A € 10 ticket for the cinema, a home match or the school party is normal for a teenager.
- A € 50 concert ticket for a 16-year-old with a part-time job, too.
- A € 180 camping weekend pass for a 14-year-old is less obvious.
The younger the buyer and the higher the amount, the less likely it is that consent will be presumed.
What if the purchase wasn't customary?
Then the sale is not automatically void, but it can be annulled. Article 3:32 of the Civil Code says that a legal act by someone without legal capacity is voidable. The parent can undo the purchase. You refund the money and the ticket lapses.
Don't confuse this with the right of withdrawal. Under EU consumer law there is no fourteen-day cooling-off period for tickets to an event on a fixed date. Annulment is a separate route: it is about whether the buyer had the capacity to make the purchase in the first place.
What to do in practice
You don't need to check the age of every buyer. The risk sits in the exceptions: expensive tickets, large quantities, or an event that clearly targets young people. Three things help:
- Say on your event page who the event is for. "Admission from age 16" or "under-14s only with an adult" prevents a lot of confusion.
- Create a separate ticket type for children or young people if you use a different price or different conditions. It also makes clear you expect that audience.
- Be accommodating when a parent calls about a purchase that really wasn't customary. Refunding a ticket costs less than an argument you would probably lose. If the event is sold out, the people on your waiting list get a message as soon as that place opens up.
What personal data may you ask a minor for?
For the ticket sale itself you need no consent, not even from a parent. The legal basis under the GDPR is performance of the contract: you need a name and email address to deliver the ticket. Data minimisation still applies, so don't ask for anything you don't need. More on legal bases and retention periods in our article on the GDPR for events.
That changes as soon as you use consent as your legal basis, for example for a newsletter or for photos you use in your marketing. Children under 16 cannot give that consent themselves in the Netherlands:
- For online services offered directly to a child, Article 8 of the GDPR requires the consent to come from a parent. The Netherlands kept the age at 16.
- For all other cases, Article 5 of the Dutch GDPR Implementation Act (Uitvoeringswet AVG) says the same: under 16, the consent of the legal representative is required instead of the child's.
Something changed this year. Since the Dutch Data Protection Omnibus Act (Verzamelwet gegevensbescherming) entered into force on 1 September 2026, young people aged 12 and over may withdraw their consent themselves, alongside their parents. From 12, they may also exercise their GDPR rights, such as access and erasure, on their own. Giving consent under 16 still lies with the parent.
What does that mean for you?
- If your event targets young people, such as a school party, youth tournament or teen disco, don't offer a newsletter checkbox in the checkout. You don't know how old the buyer is, and consent from a 14-year-old isn't valid.
- If a 13-year-old unsubscribes or asks you to delete their data, just handle it. You don't need to call a parent first.
- Don't ask for a date of birth if all you want to know is whether someone is old enough. "Are you 18 or older?" is enough. Our article on attendee details explains how to keep a questionnaire short.
An age limit at the gate
You set a minimum age for your event yourself, in your terms and on your event page. Checking happens at the gate. A few rules to know.
Look, don't copy
Looking at an ID to check someone's age is fine. Making a copy is something else. According to the Dutch government, only a few types of organisation may copy an identity document, such as government bodies, banks, notaries and employers. Event organisers aren't among them, and you don't need the copy anyway. So don't let visitors upload a photo of their ID, and don't let stewards scan IDs. A list of teenagers' ID copies is the last thing you want to hold in a data breach.
Alcohol: age has to be established
If you serve alcohol, Article 20 of the Dutch Alcohol Act applies. You may not serve alcohol to anyone whose age of 18 or over has not been established. That has to be done with an identity document, unless someone is unmistakably old enough. There is also a pass-on ban: you may not sell a drink to an adult if it is evidently meant for a minor.
The minor is liable too. Under Article 45 of the same act, people under 18 may not carry alcohol, or have it ready to drink, in a public place, on pain of a first-category fine. If you have an exemption for a bar at your event, also read our article on serving alcohol at Dutch events.
In practice, a coloured 18+ wristband put on at the entrance after an ID check works well. The bar doesn't need to check again with every order, and you store nothing.
Parents buying for their child
With young children, the parent usually buys the ticket. The parent is then the buyer, and the question of legal capacity doesn't arise. Two tips:
- Keep the order in the parent's name. The parent gets the confirmation, any changes, and the email if the event is moved.
- If you need the child's name, for example for a youth tournament or a children's workshop, ask for it after the purchase, and only ask what you really need. An allergy or a parent's emergency number can be relevant. A date of birth rarely is.
A short checklist
- Does your event page say what age the event is for, and whether an adult has to come along?
- Do you have a separate ticket type for children or young people where it makes sense?
- For an event aimed at young people, is there no newsletter checkbox in the checkout?
- Do your stewards know to look at IDs, not photograph them?
- Is the 18+ check at the bar arranged, with wristbands or another visible marker?
- Does your team know how to handle a parent calling about a child's purchase?
In closing
The rules around minors are less strict than many organisers think. A teenager can simply buy a ticket, and you don't need a parent's consent for the sale itself. It only gets tricky with expensive purchases, consent for marketing, and age checks that produce more data than needed.
In MijnEvent you create ticket types per age group, collect only the details you need after the purchase, and newsletter sign-ups always go through a separate checkbox that is unticked by default. ID copies never come into it. See the pricing or create an account and set up your first event.
Legislation changes and tariffs are revised annually. We do our best to keep this article current and link to the source where we can, but we cannot guarantee everything still holds at the moment you read it. If a decision carries financial or legal consequences, check with the authority itself or put it to a lawyer or adviser. See also our general disclaimer.
