The Netherlands Finance Ministry has announced that compulsory levies payable by companies to the Dutch commodity and industrial boards (PBO) will be abolished from 1 January 2014. While PBOs undertook a number of functions, e.g. animal welfare and food safety, amongst others, the Netherlands Government will now take on these duties without charge. This process will start from 1 January 2014 and will be complete by 1 January 2015.