Letters sent to the Netherlands, once printed, are forwarded to PostNL for delivery. From this point onwards, further responsibility lies with PostNL. To ensure that your letters can be processed smoothly and for the agreed prices by PostNL, it is important that the recipient addresses comply with specific requirements.
In this article, we have summarised the most important address requirements of PostNL for you.
In order to provide our customers with the best possible support in complying with these requirements, Pingen checks the recipient address for additional requirements for letters sent to the Netherlands since July 1st 2024.Learn more about the address checks of Pingen
If there are problems processing the recipient's address, PostNL may reject the letter or only deliver it for a surcharge. In such cases, no reimbursem*nt will be made as the correct addressing is the sender’s responsibility and the costs cover the additional processing effort. To ensure that the address meets the postal address requirements, we recommend sending a test letter via Pingen and verifying successful delivery. In this way, potential problems can be recognised and rectified at an early stage to ensure smooth delivery.
Address Requirements PostNL:
Address Positioning
To make the recipient's address clearly legible in the envelope window, the address must be placed within the address area. The following dimensions must be observed:
- Distance from the edge: 22 mm from the left (x), 60 mm from the top (y)
- Address Area Size: 85.5 mm x 25.5 mm
Address Structure
To ensure that the recipient's address can be processed by PostNL, the following order must be respected:
- Salutation (optional)
- Recipient or company name
- Further recipient designations
- The street and house number or P.O. Box and P.O. Box number must be stated on one line in this order. The house number suffix must be entered with a space after the house number. If the addition begins with a number, a hyphen must be used.
- 4-digit postcode with 2-letters and city in capital letters in one line in this order. Additional information about the destination country (country code or ISO code) must be omitted.
Usually accepted by PostNL:
Usually not accepted by PostNL:
Fonts
PostNL defines specific information regarding font formatting:
Font Size (Height of verse)
Minimum: 7pt
Maximum: 17pt
For a font size of 7 pt to 10 pt address must be written in capital letters
Recommended font size: 10 pt to 12 pt in "regular" (normal) font style
Character Spacing
End of a character to the beginning of the next character:
Minimum: 0.2 mm
Maximum: 0.4 mm
Word spacing
The space between blocks of digits and words:
Maximum: 10 mm
Usually one or two spaces
Line Spacing (Weft)
Uniform line spacing between the descenders of the top line and the ascenders of the bottom line for the entire address:
Minimum: 1 mm
Maximum: 5 mm
Font & color
For the recipient's address to be properly read, a clear font with an easily readable font size is mandatory.
- Recommended fonts: Arial, Calibri, Verdana or Helvetica
- Uniform font and uniform character spacing
- Font colour: Black
- No italics or decorative fonts
- No serif fonts
- No fonts with connected letters
- No 3D or shaded fonts
Usually not accepted by PostNL:
Further details on the design:
PostNL specifies further requirements for address design:
- At least three, maximum six address lines
- The address must be left-aligned
- No blank lines between the address lines
- Neither postcode nor city must be underlined or blocked out.
- Postcode and city must be stated in capital letters
- The numbers and letters of the postcode must be separated by a single space. The postcode and city must be separated by a double space.
Usually not accepted by PostNL:
Detailed documentation of the requirements by PostNL can be found here https://www.postnl.nl/Images/vormgevingsvoorwaarden-2023_tcm10-235482.pdf
Address verification by Pingen (since July 1st 2024)
To help you meet the requirements of PostNL, Pingen checks the recipient address for compliance with additional requirements since July 1st 2024 for letters to the Netherlands.
If Pingen detects that a document does not comply with the address requirements, it will receive the status "Action required" after upload. The "cover page feature" enables you to correct the recipient's address directly via Pingen. This feature automatically adds a new page in front of the document. This allows the address to be re-entered in compliance with the address requirements and placed on the cover page accordingly.
The following requirements are checked by Pingen since July 1st 2024:
Prohibited content in the postcode line
In the address line with the postcode and the city, the postcode must appear before the city. In addition, there must be no characters (such as a comma or hyphen) between the numbers and the letters of the postcode or between the postcode and the city. Both pieces of information must be separated by one or two spaces. Pingen checks whether the order is correct and whether there is at least one space after the postcode.
In addition, country designations before the postcode such as NL- or NL should be avoided, as these are no longer accepted by the Post.
Please make sure that the line with the postcode only contains the postcode and the city. The postcode must also consist of 4 digits and 2 letters. The postcode and the city should be separated by at least one, ideally two spaces. For example, 1011 AH Amsterdam or 1011AH Amsterdam (and not “1011,AH Amsterdam” or “1011 AH, Amsterdam” or “NL-1011 AH Amsterdam” or “NL1011 AH Amsterdam” or “AH 1011 Amsterdam” or “1011 Amsterdam AH” or “Amsterdam 1011 AH”).
Invalid postcode format
In the Netherlands, postcodes that do not consist of 4 digits and 2 capital letters are considered invalid. If a recipient address has a postcode with fewer or more than 4 digits and 2 letters, it will be rejected by Pingen. Pingen checks whether the last or second-last address line contains a postcode with 4 digits and 2 letters.
Please make sure that the postcode consists of 4 digits and 2 letters. For example, 1011 AH Amsterdam or 1011AH Amsterdam (and not “1011,AH Amsterdam” or “10 11 AH Amsterdam” or “101 AH Amsterdam” or “1’011 AH Amsterdam”).
Country designation on the last address line
PostNL specifies that the country should be the only content on the last address line. For this reason, Pingen checks whether there is a country designation (such as “Netherlands” or “Nederland” or “Germany”) on the line with the postcode.
Please make sure that the country name is on the last address line and that the address line with the postcode does not have a country name. For example, 1011 AH Amsterdam or 1011AH Amsterdam (and not “1011 AH Amsterdam Netherlands” or “1011 AH Amsterdam (NL)” or “1011 AH Amsterdam Germany”).
Invalid Address Structure (Soon)
When sending letters to the Netherlands, it is mandatory to include a recipient name in the address. Furthermore, no empty lines (or lines without content) are allowed between the different address lines. In addition, the address line with the street name/house number or P.O. Box must be followed by the address line with the postcode/city. In addition, neither the address line with the street name/house number nor the address line with the postcode/city may be split over multiple address lines.
Please ensure that the address contains a recipient and no blank lines between the address lines, that the address line with the street name or P.O. box is followed by the address line with the postcode/city and that both the address line with the street name and the address line with the postcode/city are shortened so that they each fit on one address line.
Important:
For technical reasons, Pingen cannot carry out a complete verification of the requirements by PostNL The address check by Pingen serves solely to help identify various problems before sending the letter. However, it is the sender's responsibility to ensure that letters sent to the Netherlands via Pingen comply with PostNL regulations. Any additional expenses due to incorrect addressing will be charged by Pingen.
Note: The illustrations in this article are not to scale.
