An advertising, communication or design agency that only creates concepts and designs does not fall under a mandatory collective agreement or a mandatory pension fund. If you produce printed matter, prints, lettering or other signage products for clients yourself, you may fall under the Graphic Media collective agreement. That agreement is generally binding until 31 December 2027.
If you fall under the agreement, you usually also fall under the mandatory pension with the PGB pension fund. In 2026 the premium is 22.65% of the pension base. The employer pays 13.64% of that.
In short
- The Graphic Media cao applies to the graphic media business: printing, digital printing for third parties, screen printing, prepress, finishing and signage businesses. A pure design or advertising agency is not named in the list.
- Part of a business can also fall under it. A print department or a signage studio within your agency is therefore a risk, even if most of your work is design.
- If in doubt, check. The ROGB collective agreement committee advises on whether a business falls under the agreement, and PGB assesses membership with a form about your actual activities.
In this article
- Does an advertising or design agency have a mandatory collective agreement?
- Which activities bring your agency under the Graphic Media cao?
- What if you only print or letter part of the work yourself?
- What do you pay to the PGB pension fund?
- What do you pay an employee under the Graphic Media cao?
- How do you find out for certain whether your agency falls under it?
- Why does the agreement apply even if you are not a member of KVGO?
Does an advertising or design agency have a mandatory collective agreement?
No, not if you only create concepts, design and advise. There is no generally binding collective agreement for advertising, communication, PR or design agencies. You then arrange employment conditions and pension yourself, within the law.
A collective agreement is generally binding when the minister makes it compulsory for all employers in the sector, even if they are not members of the employers' organisation. That has happened with the Graphic Media cao. The decision of 28 September 2026 applies from the day after publication in the Government Gazette of 1 October 2026 and expires on 1 January 2028 (Government Gazette 2026, 30725).
The agreement was concluded by the Royal Association of Graphic Companies (KVGO) with the unions FNV, CNV and De Unie. An employer within the meaning of the agreement is anyone with one or more employees who carries out activities that belong to the graphic media business (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.1). A one-person business without staff is therefore not affected.
Which activities bring your agency under the Graphic Media cao?
Producing printed matter, prints and signage products yourself. The agreement applies to businesses or parts of businesses that reproduce text and images, turn them into an end product and distribute them in printed or electronic form, or make them suitable for that (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.5.1).
The agreement then lists which businesses fall under it in any case: printers, prepress businesses, finishing businesses, screen printers, signage businesses, newspaper businesses, reprographic businesses, digital print businesses and a few others (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.5.2). An agency that only designs and outsources the printing is not on that list.
For creative agencies four parts matter most. A signage business makes signage products, such as outdoor and indoor advertising, facade and vehicle advertising, corporate identity items, banners and flags, and may also install them (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.5.9). A digital print business prints commercially with digitally controlled techniques, such as inkjet or laser, for third parties (article 1.5.12).
A screen printing business uses screen printing, whatever the material (article 1.5.8). And a prepress business carries out, wholly or mainly, preparatory work for printing processes, including digital files with graphic settings for printing (article 1.5.6). A studio that mainly makes print-ready files for printers comes close to that. The PGB form names DTP and prepress separately (PGB, information form on the scope of the graphic media sector).
What if you only print or letter part of the work yourself?
Then that part may fall under it. The agreement speaks of businesses or parts of businesses (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.5.1). An in-house print department or signage studio within a design agency is therefore not automatically outside the agreement. The text does not set a threshold for whether a small amount of printing on the side is already enough. We found no case law about an advertising or design agency.
The PGB compulsory membership decree contains a few exceptions for the pension. Directors, members of the management team and interns are among those not covered. For printers, prepress and finishing there is also an exception for people who work alternately for a graphic and a non-graphic part of the business and as a rule work less than 17 hours a week for the graphic part (Government Gazette 2025, 32685, part I).
For signage businesses that 17-hour exception does not exist. There the exception only applies to a signage unit that works solely for its own organisation. Field account managers are not excluded in signage businesses either (Government Gazette 2025, 32685, part III). The agreement itself says the same about the commercial field staff (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 1.3).
What do you pay to the PGB pension fund?
In 2026 the premium for the graphic media sector is 22.65% of the pension base. The employer pays 13.64%, the employee at most 9.01% (PGB, premium data for the graphic media sector 2026). Pension accrual starts on the first working day.
The pension base is the pensionable salary minus the franchise. The pensionable salary is the fixed gross salary on 1 January including holiday pay, up to a maximum of € 79,409 per year. The franchise, the part on which no pension is accrued, is € 18,958 per year (PGB, premium data for the graphic media sector 2026).
An example. An employee at job level 6 earns € 19.86 an hour in the middle of the scale, the average of € 17.78 and € 21.94. At 36 hours a week that is € 37,178 a year, with 8% holiday pay € 40,152. Minus the franchise, the base is € 21,194. The premium is then € 4,800 a year, of which the employer pays € 2,891.
What do you pay an employee under the Graphic Media cao?
At least the hourly wage from the scale for the job level. The agreement has twelve job levels, each with a minimum and maximum hourly wage. The basic working week is 36 hours and holiday pay is 8% (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, articles 2.2 and 2.6). The agreement sets minimums: you may deviate in the employee's favour (article 1.7).
| Job level | Minimum per hour | Maximum per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | € 15.38 | € 16.85 |
| 4 | € 16.16 | € 19.01 |
| 6 | € 17.78 | € 21.94 |
| 8 | € 20.17 | € 26.13 |
| 10 | € 23.33 | € 31.82 |
| 12 | € 27.11 | € 39.90 |
The amounts in the table apply from 1 July 2026, after an increase of 2% plus € 0.20 per hour. On 1 July 2027 they rise by 2.5% (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, article 2.2.1). In addition to the PGB pension you pay contributions to the sector funds. Those schemes are in a separate agreement, the ASF schemes agreement, administered by PGB Pensioendiensten (article 11.6).
How do you find out for certain whether your agency falls under it?
Compare your actual activities with the text of the agreement and ask for advice if in doubt. The collective agreement committee of the Graphic Media Sector Council (ROGB) advises on request whether a business falls within the scope (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, annex on the committee's rules).
PGB works with an information form. On it you state what your business actually does. PGB only enrols a business if its activities lead to compulsory participation, and according to the form the compulsory membership decree in Government Gazette 2025, 32685 is decisive (PGB, information form on the scope of the graphic media sector).
Do not wait for the fund to contact you. With a mandatory pension fund the court looks at the core activity of the business, based on things like the articles of association, annual reports, website and turnover. Employers' association AWVN writes, after the Booking.com case with PGB, that employers have their own duty to investigate (AWVN, 22 March 2024).
Why does the agreement apply even if you are not a member of KVGO?
Because the minister has declared the agreement generally binding. It then applies to all employers within its scope, not only to members (Government Gazette 2026, 30725, dictum I). For a small agency that has never heard of KVGO, the agreed wages and the pension still apply.
Research in Portugal shows what that can mean for non-members. In 2011 the government suspended the almost automatic extension of collective agreements, and that created a natural experiment. Extensions had a negative effect on employment growth, especially among firms that were not members of the employers' organisation (Hijzen and Martins, 2020).
That research is about Portugal and about collective agreements in general, not about graphic media in the Netherlands. It does show why it matters to know in advance whether the agreement applies to you. The wages and the pension premium then belong in your cost price and your rates.
Sources
- Decision of the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment of 28 September 2026 declaring provisions of the Graphic Media collective agreement generally binding, Government Gazette 2026, 30725, 1 October 2026. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Decision partially withdrawing compulsory membership of the PGB industry pension fund, with the full text of the compulsory membership, Government Gazette 2025, 32685, 6 October 2025. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- PGB pension fund, Premium data for the graphic media sector 2026 (in Dutch), January 2026. pensioenfondspgb.nl
- PGB pension fund, Information on the scope of the graphic media sector (form 30016w25, in Dutch). pensioenfondspgb.nl
- AWVN, Booking.com joins PGB on a mandatory basis: what are the consequences? (in Dutch), 22 March 2024. awvn.nl
- Hijzen, A. & Martins, P.S. (2020). No extension without representation? Evidence from a natural experiment in collective bargaining. IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 9(1). doi.org