Choosing a Web Design Agency in the Netherlands: Offerte, KvK, DPA

When you start looking for an agency to redesign your website, the sheer number of options is the first hurdle. A search turns up dozens of studios, each listing its portfolio and strengths. When you try to compare them, every proposal has a different format, a different level of detail in the quote, and different vocabulary.

Many businesses end up choosing the agency that felt friendliest or quoted the lowest price, and discover after launch that maintenance was extra or that the domain is registered in the agency's name. That is rarely the agency's fault. More often, the client never set the yardstick for comparison in advance.

This article sets out the selection process in order: write an RFP (request for proposal) → build and cut a shortlist → compare proposals in one table → check in interviews → lock it down in the contract. It is written for businesses commissioning work in Japan, in Europe (the Netherlands in particular), or both, and it puts the legal and commercial differences side by side. Costs are covered in "Website redesign cost and how to read a quote" and the project timeline in "Website redesign process and schedule", so this article focuses on choosing and comparing.

Main sources for this article

• Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (EUR-Lex), EDPB Guidelines 07/2020 on the concepts of controller and processor, the European Commission's standard contractual clauses (Decision 2021/915), and the Dutch Data Protection Authority's guidance on processing agreements (verwerkersovereenkomst)
• IPA's model transaction and contract for information systems, Japan Fair Trade Commission material on the subcontracting and freelance laws, Japan's Copyright Act (e-Gov), and National Tax Agency guidance on stamp duty and consumption tax
• PIANOo, the Dutch public procurement expertise centre, on best price-quality ratio (BPKV), the Dutch Civil Code Book 6, the Dutch Copyright Act (Auteurswet), and the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) on VAT
• Google Search Central's "Do you need an SEO?", web.dev on Core Web Vitals, W3C's WCAG 2.2, and the EU Data Act (Regulation 2023/2854)

What this article answers	Short answer
Where to start	Write an RFP before you look for agencies: 12 sections, 5–10 A4 pages
How many agencies	Request proposals from 3–5; interview the top 2
What to compare	A weighted scorecard on 5 criteria and an 11-row comparison table
What to fix in the contract	Copyright transfer, exit handover, SLA, DPA, change procedure
Japan vs Europe	Quote format, tax (10% consumption tax / 21% Dutch VAT), payment terms (60 / 30 days)
Spotting risky proposals	Ranking guarantees, assets in the agency's name, "lump sum" only, no DPA

1. The ground rules for choosing an agency changed in the last two years

New laws added to the client's checklist

The list of things to check when choosing an agency has grown considerably in the last two years. Accessibility, commercial terms and cloud switching, which nobody asked about when agencies were chosen on design and portfolio alone, have become issues set by law.

In Japan, the amended Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities took effect on 1 April 2024, making reasonable accommodation mandatory for businesses. The Freelance Act took effect on 1 November 2024 and requires clients to state the work, the fee and the payment date when commissioning individuals. On 1 January 2026, the Act on the Proper Conduct of Transactions with Small and Medium-sized Contractors (known as "Toriteki-hō") replaced the old Subcontract Act, banning payment by promissory note and price-setting without consultation.

In Europe, the European Accessibility Act (EAA, Directive 2019/882) has applied since 28 June 2025, so businesses providing certain services to EU consumers must make their websites and apps accessible. The EU Data Act (Regulation 2023/2854) has applied since 12 September 2025 and sets rules on notice and transition periods when customers switch cloud and other data processing services. From 12 January 2027, providers may no longer charge for switching.

None of these changes is about the agency's craft. They add things to write into the RFP and the contract. Bolting them on later costs time and money, so put them into your comparison table at the selection stage.

2. The big picture: four stages and how long they take

Each stage has its documents and its decisions

Agency selection is easier to manage in four stages: writing the RFP, shortlisting, comparing proposals, and contracting. Each stage has clear documents for the client to produce and clear decisions to make.

These durations assume a mid-sized corporate site of roughly 30 to 100 pages. If your approvals go through several layers, or the process spans the summer holidays or year-end, allow another two to four weeks.

Stage	What the client produces	What gets decided
1. RFP	RFP, current metrics, content inventory	Goals, scope, budget range, evaluation method
2. Shortlist	List of agencies to approach	The 3–5 agencies invited to propose
3. Compare	Comparison table, scorecard, questions	The 2 agencies to interview, preferred bidder
4. Contract	Draft contract, DPA, SLA	Scope, rights, payment and exit terms

As the table shows, most of the client's work is concentrated in stage 1. Skip it, and stage 3 has nothing consistent to compare.

3. What to put in a website RFP

RFI, RFP and RFQ

There are three kinds of procurement document: an RFI (request for information) to learn what agencies do well, an RFP (request for proposal) to receive proposed solutions, and an RFQ (request for quotation) to compare prices for a fixed specification. In a redesign you usually want agencies to propose how to build as well as what, so the RFP is the default. Only when you have more than ten candidates is it worth narrowing them with an RFI first.

The 12 sections of an RFP

Write the RFP so that every agency works from the same assumptions and answers in the same format. With these twelve sections in place, the quality of the proposals changes noticeably. This also serves as a simple website RFP template.

Section	What to write	What goes wrong if missing
1. Company and business	What you do, customers, markets (countries, languages)	Generic proposals
2. Goals and targets	What you want to improve, by how much	Design-only proposals
3. Scope	Pages, features, languages, out of scope	Quotes cover different work
4. Content to migrate	Articles, PDFs, images, URLs	Migration billed later
5. Quality standards	Accessibility, speed, supported devices	Disputes at acceptance
6. Security and personal data	Forms, accounts, need for a DPA	Legal gaps
7. Operations	Who updates, how often, support wanted	Maintenance billed separately
8. Budget range	Initial and annual cost ranges	Proposals vary wildly in size
9. Timeline	Deadlines, interview dates, launch	Mismatched assumptions
10. Response format	Structure, quote template, page limit	Nothing comparable
11. Evaluation method	Criteria, weights, process	Agencies cannot tell what matters
12. Preferred contract terms	Rights, payment, termination, governing law	Back to square one at contract

Keep the RFP to five to ten A4 pages and allow two to three weeks for responses. Share every question and answer with all agencies in the same words. The sections most often missing are "out of scope" in section 3 and the evaluation method in section 11. Saying what you will not do, and how you will choose, lets agencies put their effort where they are strongest.

Write goals as numbers

"Our site looks dated and we want a new one" leaves an agency nothing to propose but a new design. "Raise enquiries from 20 to 30 a month", "start getting brochure requests from the English pages" or "let our own staff update the site" leads to proposals designed around those goals.

To set numeric goals you need current numbers. Attach the last twelve months of analytics, the number and sources of enquiries, and the top twenty pages by search traffic as an annex to the RFP.

Should you state a budget?

Some clients fear that stating a budget means every agency will quote the maximum. In practice, a range makes proposals easier to compare. Without one, one agency proposes a minimal build and another an ideal one, and you cannot tell whether a price gap reflects scope or rates.

Give initial and annual figures separately, for example "initial ¥3–4.5 million, maintenance and operations up to ¥1 million a year". For a Dutch agency, state the currency and tax, for example "€18,000–€27,000 excluding VAT". For market figures, see "Website redesign cost and how to read a quote".

4. Finding candidates and cutting the shortlist

Where candidates come from

The channel you use shapes the kind of agency you find. Using two or three channels rather than one reduces bias.

Referrals tell you how an agency actually works, but are harder to turn down. Matching and comparison platforms produce many names at once, but listing fees can affect the order. Agencies you find through search show how they communicate, but you need to tell ads from organic results.

If your site has to work in both Japan and the Netherlands, it can help to include agencies from both countries. Japanese agencies are strong on Japanese copy and Japanese market conventions; European agencies know GDPR, the European Accessibility Act and local search. If you choose one side, check in the proposal how they will cover the other.

From long list to shortlist

Cut the long list down to the three to five agencies you will invite to propose. At this stage, filter on whether they meet the basic conditions, not on the content of a proposal.

Filter	How to check	Drop if
Size and team	Headcount, people on the project	Far too small or large for the job
Similar projects	Live sites, case studies	No example of similar size or sector
Languages and regions	Multilingual work	No experience in the languages needed
Technology	CMS and hosting options	Only works with one proprietary CMS
Transparency	Pricing approach, terms	Nothing is visible until you ask

Inviting more than five agencies increases your reading load and lowers each agency's chance of winning, which lowers proposal quality. With only one or two, you have no baseline. Three to five is the right range.

Check that the company exists

When you hire a small studio or a freelancer, check the public registers. It takes minutes and prevents disputes about who the contracting party is.

What to check	Japan	Netherlands / EU
Company registration	NTA corporate number site	KvK (Chamber of Commerce) search
Tax registration	Qualified invoice number	VAT number via VIES
Contracting party	Registered name and address	KvK number and registered name

These numbers should also appear on quotes and invoices. If they are missing, or the name switches between a person and a company, pin down the contracting party before you go further.

4-2. Five checks to run on a Dutch agency

When you hire an agency in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe, the order of checks differs a little from hiring in Japan. This section lists what you can verify from public information in minutes. It is a route for checking, not legal advice.

Step 1: Confirm the KvK registration

Dutch businesses are registered in the Handelsregister (trade register) of the KvK (Kamer van Koophandel, the Chamber of Commerce). According to KvK, an entry shows the KvK number, trade name, addresses, legal form and the names and powers of authorised signatories. Searching is free for anyone; an extract (uittreksel) costs money.

The KvK number has eight digits, and KvK says it must appear on letters, quotes (offertes), invoices, the website and business emails. Check that the number on the offerte matches the website, and that the registered name is the same as your contracting party. If there is no registration or the numbers differ, ask why before signing.

Step 2: Read the offerte

In KvK's guidance, an offerte becomes binding once the client agrees to what it says, and agreement can be a signature or an email reply. Before you answer "confirmed", check that scope, price and validity are written down.

What to look at	What to confirm
Scope	Deliverables are specific, not just a single package line
Price	Excl. BTW or incl.; for hourly rates, a cap or estimated hours
Validity	Until when the quote holds
Payment	How invoices are split and the payment term
Extra work	How out-of-scope work is quoted and who approves it
General terms	Referenced and attached

Step 3: Read the algemene voorwaarden (general terms)

KvK advises businesses that use general terms to inform the customer before the agreement is made, to send them with the offerte and to state in the offerte that they apply. If they are on a website, the customer should be able to download and store them.

Read five points: the liability cap, the payment term and late-payment costs, intellectual property, termination, and governing law and jurisdiction. Important terms are sometimes in the general terms rather than the contract itself. Negotiate clauses that do not fit before you sign.

Step 4: Ask for the verwerkersovereenkomst (data processing agreement)

If the agency or its hosting company handles personal data for you, such as contact-form submissions or analytics, GDPR Article 28 requires a processor agreement. The Dutch regulator, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), lists the processing, written instructions, staff confidentiality, security, permission for sub-processors, help with data subject rights, deletion or return at the end, and cooperation with audits. The details are in "8. Checking the GDPR data processing agreement (DPA)".

Two checks are enough here: can the agency show its template at proposal stage, and is there a list of sub-processors (hosting, email delivery and so on)? An agency that cannot produce a template will be scrambling just before launch.

Step 5: Check BTW and reverse charge

According to the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax authority), services to a business customer with a VAT number in another EU country are usually taxed in the customer's country, and the customer declares the tax. The invoice shows no BTW and states "btw verlegd". The decision starts with checking the customer's VAT number, so write both VAT numbers on the offerte to avoid redoing invoices.

If the client is a Japanese company, the consumption tax treatment of cross-border services can be a case-by-case judgement, so ask a tax adviser before signing. BTW rates are in "13. Business practice in Japan and Europe".

Step	Public information to use	Rough time
1. Registration	KvK Handelsregister search	Minutes
2. Offerte	The quote and KvK guidance	30 minutes
3. General terms	Attached terms and KvK guidance	30-60 minutes
4. Data processing agreement	AP guidance and the agency's template	Request at proposal stage
5. BTW	Belastingdienst guidance and VIES	Minutes

The time estimates are DevNJ's own. For what a ZZP (sole trader) should publish on a site, see "A website checklist for Dutch ZZPers", and for the overall picture of building for Europe from Japan, see "12 checks for a Japanese company building a website for Europe".

5. Comparing proposals (1): scope, deliverables and effort

First, check they quoted the same scope

When you line up the proposals, a price gap of two times or more is common. The first thing to check is whether they quoted the same scope. Comparing prices across different scopes tells you nothing.

Read each proposal against sections 3 and 4 of your RFP: what did each agency include, and what did it leave out? List the exclusions and ask every agency to requote on the same basis. That gives you a common footing.

Compare by deliverables

Scope becomes concrete when you compare deliverables (what you receive) rather than task names. Not "design package" but which files, and how many.

Deliverable	Example contents	What to check
Sitemap and specification	Page structure, URL design	Includes old-to-new URL map?
Wireframes	Skeleton of key templates	How many templates?
Design files	Desktop and mobile designs	Delivered in an editable format?
Build	Theme, code	How is source code handed over?
Migrated content	Articles, images, PDFs	Volume and manual work
Redirects	Old URLs to new	Number and how verified
Test results	Display, speed, accessibility	Delivered as a report?
Operations manual	Update steps, permissions	For whom, how long?

Proposals that list deliverables clearly also cause fewer disputes at acceptance. Proposals full of "package" items need questions to establish where the scope ends. Redirects are covered in detail in "301 redirects and SEO in a redesign".

Separate effort from rates

A quote is effort multiplied by rate. Comparing totals alone hides whether the rate is low or the effort is small. A proposal with little effort may be skipping work or missing it.

Japanese quotes are often lump sums, so specify in the RFP's response format that agencies should give person-days per phase. Dutch agencies normally quote hours and an hourly rate, so comparing hours per phase is straightforward. Ask also for the rate and approval process for changes in scope, so that you can predict additional costs.

6. Comparing proposals (2): maintenance, hosting and ownership

Compare initial cost plus five years

Post-launch costs vary as much as initial costs. Add maintenance, hosting and licence fees and compare the five-year total, and you will often find that the cheapest initial quote is not the cheapest overall.

Item	What to check	Common trap
Maintenance scope	Updates, backups, incidents	"Maintenance" excludes changes
Response times	Weekdays only? Within how many hours?	Email is the only contact
Hosting	Whose contract, location, cost	In the agency's name, not portable
Licences	Who holds paid themes and plugins	Updates stop when you leave
Price changes	Notice period for increases	Automatic yearly increases
Minimum term	Lock-in years, early exit	High termination fees

Hosting location matters especially when personal data is involved. If EU personal data is processed on servers outside the EU, you need a legal basis for the transfer, such as an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses.

List who owns what, and who can do what

Agencies sometimes register all the site's accounts themselves for convenience. Launch like that, and you cannot move your own assets freely when you want to leave. Ask each agency in the proposal how it will handle the following.

Asset	Owner	Access for the agency
Domain	Client	DNS management
Hosting	Client by default	Admin or working account
CMS admin	Client	Editor or working admin
Search Console	Client as owner	Restricted or full user
GA4	Client as administrator	Editor or analyst
Paid licences	Client	None (client renews)
Source code	Client (handed over)	Write access to repository

Google explains that Search Console permissions come in three levels: owner, full user and restricted user. GA4 likewise splits access into administrator, editor, marketer, analyst and viewer roles. The rule is simple: the client holds the owner and administrator roles, and the agency gets only what it needs.

7. Comparing proposals (3): accessibility, security and performance

Compare standards and verification, not "we support it"

Every proposal tends to say "supported" for quality items. To compare them, ask each agency to state which standard, how it will be verified, and what will be reported.

Quality item	Standard to put in the RFP	What to check in proposals
Accessibility	WCAG 2.2 AA (plus EN 301 549 for the EU)	Test method and report
Speed	LCP ≤ 2.5 s, INP ≤ 200 ms, CLS ≤ 0.1	Tools and timing of measurement
Security	OWASP Top 10, IPA guidance	Testing and update frequency
Supported devices	Main browsers and mobile versions	List of test devices
Multilingual	hreflang, language switching	URL design and translation flow

W3C's WCAG 2.2 (a Recommendation since October 2023) is the international benchmark. EN 301 549, the harmonised standard behind the European Accessibility Act, refers to requirements equivalent to WCAG 2.1 AA for the web. Japan's JIS X 8341-3:2016 is identical to WCAG 2.0. See "The European Accessibility Act and your redesign" for detail.

For speed, make web.dev's "good" Core Web Vitals thresholds a requirement (LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP within 200 milliseconds, CLS of 0.1 or less, each measured at the 75th percentile of visits), so acceptance can be checked against numbers.

Ask who will keep it updated

Most website vulnerabilities arise not when the site is built, but because it was not updated after launch. Beyond building to IPA's "How to Secure Your Website" and the OWASP Top 10, check who updates the CMS and plugins, and how often.

In practice, ask about update frequency (for example, monthly, tested on staging before production), how the agency tracks vulnerability notices, backup frequency and storage location, the deadline for notifying you of an incident, and whether security testing happens before launch. An answer of "as needed" is a reason for caution.

8. Checking the GDPR data processing agreement (DPA)

When you need a DPA

Under GDPR, the party that decides how personal data is used is the controller, and the party that handles it on the controller's behalf is the processor. If contact form submissions are stored on the agency's server, or the agency views member data during maintenance, the agency and its hosting provider act as processors.

Article 28(3) GDPR requires the relationship between controller and processor to be governed by a written contract, including in electronic form. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) states that without such a contract, both the controller and the processor are in breach. A Japanese company running a site aimed at EU consumers may also fall under GDPR, so the same check applies.

What Article 28 requires

The contents of a DPA are listed in Article 28(3). The table maps each item to a typical web build and maintenance situation.

Article 28(3) item	Example in web work
(a) Documented instructions	Form data used only to answer enquiries
(b) Confidentiality	Staff bound by confidentiality
(c) Security measures	Encryption, access control, backups
(d) Sub-processor conditions	Prior approval of hosting and email providers
(e) Help with data subject rights	Handling access and erasure requests
(f) Help with breaches etc.	Breach notification, impact assessments
(g) Deletion or return at the end	Return data on exit and delete copies
(h) Information and audits	Provide documentation, cooperate with audits

The European Commission has published standard contractual clauses between controllers and processors under Article 28(7) (Implementing Decision 2021/915). If an agency has no template of its own, these are a good base. The European Data Protection Board's Guidelines 07/2020 explain, with examples, how to decide who is the controller and who is the processor.

Check sub-processors and international transfers

Agencies rely on other companies for hosting, email delivery, forms and analytics. These are sub-processors, and the DPA should list them and set out how they are approved. If an agency cannot produce a list when asked, it may not know itself.

For a Japanese company receiving EU personal data, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for Japan in January 2019 (Implementing Decision 2019/419), so transfers from the EU to Japan do not in principle need additional contractual clauses. Onward transfers from Japan to a third country, for example a US cloud, need a separate check. Breaching Article 28 can lead to fines of up to €10 million or 2% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher, under Article 83(4).

9. Building a scorecard: five criteria and their weights

Set the weights first and publish them in the RFP

If you decide criteria after reading proposals, the yardstick drifts towards whichever agency impressed you. It is fairer to set the weights before sending the RFP and state them in its evaluation section.

PIANOo, the Dutch public procurement expertise centre, publishes guidance on "best price-quality ratio" (BPKV, beste prijs-kwaliteitverhouding), which evaluates quality alongside price. It sets out steps for deciding and publishing criteria and weights, and fixing the scoring method in advance. The same logic works for private buyers. Article 67 of the EU public procurement directive 2014/24/EU likewise provides for awarding contracts on a combination of price and quality.

What each criterion covers

The weights in Figure 3 are one example. Price is set fairly low at 15% because, once scopes are aligned, price gaps shrink and the real differences lie in understanding, team and operations. If your budget is tight, raising price to 25–30% is perfectly reasonable.

Criterion	What to look at	Example weight
Understanding of brief	How the proposal addresses your goals and numbers	30%
Team and track record	Who will work on it, similar projects	20%
Quality requirements	Accessibility, speed, security standards and testing	20%
Operations and exit	Maintenance, ownership, handover, DPA	15%
Price	Five-year total, rate for changes	15%

Agree internally on priorities before you change the weights. With several evaluators, have each score independently before comparing notes, so the loudest voice does not set the result.

Use the same scoring scale

Score each criterion from 0 to 4, multiply by the weight and add up. Defining what each score means reduces differences between evaluators.

Score	Meaning	Guide
4	Exceeds expectations	Evidence-based, and raises points you had missed
3	Fully meets	Concrete answers to every requirement
2	Largely meets	Answers the main requirements, some vagueness
1	Insufficient	Mostly generic, gaps against requirements
0	No answer	Missing or off-brief

For price, a simple method is to give the cheapest quote 4 points and the others "cheapest ÷ this quote × 4". If one quote is extremely low, check for gaps in scope before you score it.

10. The comparison table for proposals

An 11-row template

Before scoring, copy each proposal into the same table. Gaps become obvious. The template below works for comparing website proposals; where an agency leaves cells empty, fill them with questions.

Item	Agency A	Agency B	Agency C
Scope (included / excluded)
Deliverables
Effort (person-days) and rates
Initial cost (excl. tax)
Annual maintenance cost and scope
Ownership and licence holder
Hosting (owner, location)
Accessibility standard and testing
Security measures and updates
DPA and sub-processor list
Exit handover

Compare prices excluding tax, and where currencies differ, convert at the same day's rate. Once the table is filled in, most of the price gap is usually explained by whether maintenance, migration and quality testing are included; the cheap proposals tend to have an empty row or "billed separately" somewhere.

11. Questions to ask in interviews

Interview only the top two

Interview the two highest-scoring agencies for 60 to 90 minutes each. Ask that the director and the technical lead who will actually work on the project attend, not just the salesperson, and ask the same questions in the same order. Sending the questions in advance lets you compare prepared answers rather than presentation skills.

Questions and what good answers look like

The table lists interview questions with examples of good answers. A good answer is specific, backed by evidence, and willing to say what the agency cannot do.

Question	Good answer	Cause for caution
What was hardest on a similar project?	Cause and what they changed afterwards	"Nothing in particular"
Who is on the team, and how much of their time?	Names, roles, allocation	"The whole team will help"
How will you measure results after launch?	Metrics and review dates	Ends at launch
What if we ask for something out of scope?	Quote and approval process	"We're flexible"
What do we get if we leave?	List, days, formats	"We'll discuss it then"
How will you protect search traffic?	URL map and measurement steps	"We guarantee rankings"
Where is personal data processed?	Location and sub-processor list	Doesn't know
Can we speak to a client?	Introduces a client to call	Cannot

For the last question, call the reference if you can. Three questions are enough: did the project go as promised, how did they handle problems, and would you hire them again?

Be wary of agencies that promise rankings

When advising on choosing an SEO, Google Search Central states plainly: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." It warns against providers that claim guaranteed rankings, a special relationship with Google, or "priority submit". It also recommends giving only read access to Search Console during an SEO audit, not write access.

The same applies to redesign proposals. A proposal that explains how it will follow the site move procedure and investigate if rankings drop is more trustworthy than one promising that rankings will not fall.

12. Contract terms: IP, handover and SLA

State when, what and to whom copyright transfers

Copyright in the work arises, as a rule, with the people who made it, which means the agency. Paying the invoice does not move it. The contract should state when (on acceptance or on full payment), what (designs, code, copy) and to whom it transfers.

Article 61(2) of Japan's Copyright Act presumes that the rights of translation and adaptation (Article 27) and the rights concerning derivative works (Article 28) remain with the transferor unless specifically mentioned in the transfer agreement. A clause that simply says "copyright is transferred" may not pass the rights you need to modify the site or build on it, so Japanese contracts commonly add "including the rights under Articles 27 and 28". Moral rights cannot be transferred (Article 59), so a covenant not to exercise them is also usual.

Article 2 of the Dutch Copyright Act (Auteurswet) requires a deed (akte), meaning a written document, to transfer copyright. A verbal agreement or an email exchange may not be enough, so put it in the contract or a separate deed of assignment. Dutch agencies often grant a licence (licentie) rather than transfer copyright; in that case, check the scope, duration and whether you may modify the work.

In both countries, rights in components the agency already owned (its own CMS theme, shared code) and in open-source libraries do not pass to you. Ask for an annex to the contract listing what is transferred and what is only licensed, and later changes will be far easier.

Make the exit handover a procedure

Set out the exit handover in the contract as a list, deadlines, formats and costs. Domains in particular can take time to transfer and may stall without the agency's cooperation.

Under ICANN's Transfer Policy, moving a gTLD domain (.com and similar) to another registrar requires an authorisation code (Auth-Code), and transfers can be locked for a period (up to 60 days) after registration, a previous transfer or a change of registrant. .jp and .nl domains are run by JPRS and SIDN respectively, with their own procedures. To avoid a last-minute scramble, register the domain in the client's name from day one.

The EU Data Act limits the notice period a cloud or data processing provider can require of a customer who wants to switch to two months, sets a default transition period of 30 days, and bans switching charges from 12 January 2027. Even if hosting is contracted through the agency, have data export and migration assistance written into the contract.

What is handed over	Example format	Example deadline
Domain	Auth-Code, change of registrant	Within 14 days of notice
Site files	Archive, repository	Within 14 days of notice
Database	SQL dump, CSV	Within 14 days of notice
Account access	Transfer of owner/admin roles	Within 7 days of notice
Personal data	Return then delete, with confirmation	As set in the DPA
Documentation	Specifications, operations manual	Within 30 days of notice

These deadlines are examples. What matters is that deadlines and costs are written down. "To be agreed at the time" gets nowhere once a relationship has soured.

Write the SLA in uptime and response times

An SLA (service level agreement) puts numbers on the quality of maintenance and hosting. At its core are uptime and incident response times, sometimes with refunds (service credits) when targets are missed.

Small differences after the decimal point change the allowed downtime a lot. In a 30-day month, 99% uptime allows about 7.2 hours of downtime; 99.9% allows about 43 minutes.

For a typical corporate site, 99.5–99.9% is usually enough; for shops and booking sites, where downtime means lost sales, consider 99.9% or higher. IPA's "non-functional requirements grades" set out availability and performance requirements in levels, which helps when you discuss internally what level you need.

SLA item	Example wording	What to check
Uptime	99.9% per month (excluding planned maintenance)	Notice for planned maintenance
Response time	First response within 1 hour for critical incidents	Out-of-hours cover
Recovery target	Within 4 hours for critical incidents	"Target" or "guarantee"?
Reporting	Monthly uptime and incident report	Report format
Service credits	10% of the monthly fee for a missed month	Cap and how to claim

Defects and acceptance

The contract should also cover what happens when defects appear after launch. Under Japan's Civil Code, if work under a contract for work does not conform to the contract, the client can demand repair or a price reduction by giving notice within one year of becoming aware of the non-conformity (Article 637). Contracts can change this period and scope, so check it together with the acceptance criteria.

IPA's model transaction and contract for information systems was revised in 2020 to reflect Civil Code reform and is a useful reference for splitting phases between contracts for work (ukeoi) and quasi-mandate service contracts (jun-inin).

13. Business practice in Japan and Europe

How quotes are presented

The same redesign is quoted differently in Japan and the Netherlands. Japanese quotes often bundle the total as a "lump sum"; Dutch quotes generally show hours times an hourly rate, or a fixed price with a breakdown.

Item	Typical in Japan	Typical in the Netherlands / Europe
Unit of quote	Lump sum, price per page	Hourly rate × hours
Price display	Mix of incl. and excl. tax	Excl. VAT (excl. btw) as standard
Contract	Separate signed contract	General terms (algemene voorwaarden) attached
Revisions	"Up to two rounds"	Often billed by the hour
Payment split	Deposit and balance on delivery	Per milestone or monthly

Dutch general terms are attached to the end of a quote or as an annex, and set out liability caps, payment terms and intellectual property. The important points are sometimes in the general terms rather than the contract itself, so read them and negotiate the clauses that do not suit you.

VAT (BTW) and consumption tax

Tax treatment depends on where the client and the agency are based. The Dutch standard VAT rate (BTW) is 21%; Japan's consumption tax is 10%.

The Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) explains that many services supplied to a business in another EU country fall under the reverse charge ("btw verlegd"), where the customer accounts for the VAT. The invoice must then show the customer's VAT number and "btw verlegd", and VAT numbers can be checked in the European Commission's VIES. Many services supplied to businesses outside the EU are also taxed in the customer's country, with no Dutch VAT.

When a Japanese company hires a foreign agency, consumption tax treatment (including whether the reverse charge applies) depends on whether the service counts as "telecommunications services". The National Tax Agency publishes guidance on cross-border services, but services that involve delivering a finished work, such as web design, may need a case-by-case assessment, so check with a tax adviser before signing. When hiring a Japanese agency, the qualified invoice system introduced in October 2023 means input tax credits depend on whether the agency is a registered qualified invoice issuer.

Payment terms

Both countries also have rules on payment deadlines.

In Japan, transactions covered by the Toriteki Act (outsourcing transactions that meet capital or headcount thresholds) must set a payment date within 60 days of receiving the work, and since January 2026 payment by promissory note is banned. When hiring an individual freelancer, the Freelance Act likewise generally requires payment within 60 days. Web design is normally classified as "commissioned creation of information-based products", and the thresholds depend on what is commissioned.

Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code sets a 30-day payment term for business-to-business transactions where none is agreed, and allows terms beyond 60 days only if they are not grossly unfair to the creditor. When a large company pays an SME, the agreed term may be no longer than 30 days.

Rule	Japan	Netherlands
Maximum payment term	60 days from receipt (Toriteki / Freelance Acts)	30 days by default; over 60 days only exceptionally
Large company to SME	Depends on Toriteki thresholds	30 days maximum
Promissory notes	Banned under the Toriteki Act	Uncommon
Stamp duty on contracts	Paper contracts for work are taxable	None

In Japan, a paper contract for work is a Type 2 taxable document under the Stamp Tax Act, with duty depending on the contract amount. According to the National Tax Agency, it is ¥400 for over ¥1 million up to ¥2 million, ¥1,000 for over ¥2 million up to ¥3 million, ¥2,000 for over ¥3 million up to ¥5 million, and ¥10,000 for over ¥5 million up to ¥10 million. Electronic contracts are treated as not requiring stamps.

14. Red flags in proposals

Warning signs in proposals and quotes

The table lists points to clarify before signing if you see them in a proposal or interview. One alone is not automatically disqualifying, but if you cannot get an answer, it is safer to drop the agency.

Red flag	Why	How to check
Guaranteed rankings	Google says no one can guarantee them	Ask for reasoning and method
Domain or server in the agency's name	Cannot move it when you leave	Can it be put in your name?
Quote is "lump sum" only	Scope unknown	Ask for deliverables and effort
Proprietary CMS with no export	You cannot switch	Ask about export formats
No DPA or sub-processor list	Does not understand GDPR duties	Ask for their template
No named team	Resourcing unclear	Ask for names and allocation
Long minimum term, high exit fee	Your exit is blocked	Negotiate early termination
Cannot show work	Quality cannot be checked	Live sites and a client reference

Common failure patterns in redesigns are collected in "10 ways a website redesign fails".

15. Worked examples (fictional)

The three cases below, of businesses in different situations choosing an agency, are fictional. They do not refer to any real company or person.

Case A: a Japanese parts maker strengthening its English pages

A parts maker with 80 employees. Previously, it received a quote that said only "lump sum ¥4.8 million" and had no way to compare it. This time it sent an RFP with the numeric goal "raise enquiries from the English pages from 12 to 30 a year" to two Japanese agencies and one Dutch agency. Once the comparison table was filled in, most of the price gap came down to whether English copywriting and accessibility testing for Europe were included. It chose a Japanese agency as main contractor and hired the European agency separately to review the English copy.

Case B: a Japanese trading company in the Netherlands with personal data in forms

A Japanese trading company with 25 staff is rebuilding a site in Japanese, English and Dutch. Of four candidates, one submitted its DPA template and sub-processor list with its proposal; another replied "we can draw one up later if needed" and did not know where its servers were. The "operations and exit" criterion made the difference, and the company chose the first agency despite a slightly higher price. In the contract, it revisited the liability cap in the general terms and added an annex on transferring the domain into its own name.

Case C: a Japanese sole trader hiring a freelancer

A sole trader running a cooking school is rebuilding a site with online booking on a budget of ¥0.8–1.2 million. Because the work went to a freelancer, the client set out the work, fee and payment date by email, as the Freelance Act requires. The booking system is a monthly service contracted in the client's own name, and site maintenance was agreed as "flat fee up to two hours a month, hourly rate beyond that".

Case	Deciding criterion	Fixed in the contract
A: parts maker	Understanding and proposal	Separate contract for English copy review
B: trading company	Operations and exit (DPA)	Liability cap, domain ownership
C: sole trader	Price and operations	Written terms, cap on maintenance hours

What the three cases share is that setting the yardstick first made differences other than price visible.

16. Steps to take next

Here are the steps for starting an agency selection, in order.

1. Collect current numbers: twelve months of analytics, number and sources of enquiries, top twenty pages by traffic
2. Write goals as numbers: what you want to change, by how much, by when
3. Write the RFP in 12 sections: always include out-of-scope items and the evaluation method
4. Set criteria and weights: five criteria and a scoring scale, agreed internally
5. Collect candidates and cut to 3–5: use two or three channels and filter on basic conditions
6. Send the RFP and share all Q&A: deadline two to three weeks later
7. Fill in the comparison table and score independently: fill gaps with questions
8. Interview the top two and call a reference: same questions, same order
9. Finalise the contract, DPA and SLA: rights transfer, handover, payment date
10. Tell the unsuccessful agencies: a brief reason helps future relationships

17. Checklist

Before sending the RFP

• Goals and targets are written as numbers
• Scope and "out of scope" are written down
• You know how much content needs migrating
• Standards for accessibility, speed and security are set
• Budget is given as ranges, initial and annual separately
• Criteria and weights are decided and stated in the RFP

When comparing proposals

• All agencies quoted the same scope
• The 11-row comparison table is complete
• You compared five-year totals
• You checked who owns the domain, hosting and accounts
• You checked the DPA and sub-processor list
• Evaluators scored independently

Before signing

• Timing and scope of the copyright transfer are written (in Japan, Articles 27 and 28)
• The exit handover list, deadlines and costs are written
• The SLA states uptime, response times and reporting
• The procedure for quoting and approving changes is written
• The payment term is within the legal limit
• You read the general terms (in the Netherlands) and negotiated clauses that do not fit

Summary

• Choosing an agency starts with writing a 12-section RFP before you look for agencies, especially "out of scope" and the evaluation method
• Request proposals from three to five agencies and interview the top two for the best balance of quality and effort
• Score proposals on five weighted criteria and use the 11-row comparison table to find gaps; compare price as a five-year total
• Keep the domain, hosting, Search Console and GA4 in the client's name, and give the agency only the access it needs
• If personal data is involved, check the Article 28 GDPR DPA and the sub-processor list before signing
• Put copyright transfer, exit handover and the SLA in writing: in Japan, name Articles 27 and 28; in the Netherlands, use a written deed
• Japan and the Netherlands differ in quote format, tax (10% consumption tax / 21% VAT) and payment terms (within 60 / 30 days)

Sources

EU and Dutch law and authorities

• General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — EUR-Lex: Article 28 (processors), Article 83 (fines)
• Guidelines 07/2020 on the concepts of controller and processor — EDPB: how to tell controllers from processors
• Standard contractual clauses for controllers and processors in the EU/EEA — European Commission: Article 28(7) clauses
• Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/419 — EUR-Lex: adequacy decision for Japan
• Adequacy decisions — European Commission: list of adequacy decisions
• Verwerkersovereenkomst — Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: when a processing agreement is needed and what it contains
• Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act) — EUR-Lex: application date and services covered
• Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act) — EUR-Lex: switching data processing services and charges
• Directive 2014/24/EU (public procurement) — EUR-Lex: Article 67, price-quality award
• Handreiking Beste prijs-kwaliteitverhouding: de basis — PIANOo: setting criteria and weights
• Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 6 — wetten.overheid.nl: Article 6:119a payment terms
• Auteurswet — wetten.overheid.nl: Article 2, deed of transfer
• VAT on services to customers in other EU countries — Belastingdienst: EU reverse charge
• VAT on services to and from non-EU countries — Belastingdienst: services to businesses outside the EU
• VIES VAT number validation — European Commission: checking VAT numbers
• Search the Business Register — KvK: Dutch company register
• Algemene voorwaarden delen: zo pak je dat aan — KvK: sending general terms with a quote
• Stappenplan offerte maken — KvK: what an offerte contains and when it binds
• Geregistreerd in het Handelsregister — KvK: what the register shows
• Nummers in het Handelsregister — KvK: where to show the KvK number
• Services to business customers in other EU countries — Belastingdienst: the "btw verlegd" wording

Japanese law and authorities

• Freelance Act — Japan Fair Trade Commission: stating terms and the 60-day payment rule
• Toriteki Act leaflet — Japan Fair Trade Commission: key points of the Act in force from January 2026
• Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities — Cabinet Office: mandatory reasonable accommodation
• Copyright Act — e-Gov: Articles 27, 28, 59 and 61
• Civil Code — e-Gov: Article 637, notice of non-conformity
• Model transaction and contract for information systems — IPA: contracts for work vs quasi-mandate, acceptance
• Non-functional requirements grades — IPA: setting availability requirements
• How to Secure Your Website — IPA: website security measures
• Contracts for work (No. 7102) — National Tax Agency: stamp duty amounts
• Qualified invoice system — National Tax Agency: the invoice system
• Consumption tax on cross-border services — National Tax Agency: services from foreign businesses
• Corporate Number Publication Site — National Tax Agency: checking that a company exists

Web standards and Google guidance

• Do you need an SEO? — Google Search Central: what to watch for when hiring an SEO
• Site moves with URL changes — Google Search Central: procedure for moving URLs
• Managing Search Console users and permissions — Google: owners and users
• GA4 access management — Google: permissions by role
• Web Vitals — web.dev: LCP, INP and CLS thresholds
• WCAG 2.2 — W3C: accessibility standard
• OWASP Top 10 — OWASP: main web application risks
• Transfer Policy — ICANN: gTLD domain transfers
• Domain name lifecycle — JPRS: registering and managing .jp domains

The Dutch registration, offerte and BTW sources (KvK, Belastingdienst, AP) were checked on 31 October 2026, and the others on 29 October 2026. Legal, tax and contract treatment depends on your circumstances, so consult a lawyer or tax adviser before signing.