Gabon and the Netherlands at a glance
- Stamp
- Legalisation
- First stop
- Legalisation by the Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Libreville is the only stamp the Netherlands asks for documents from Gabon, so the Dutch embassy step falls away (Netherlands Worldwide)
- Language
- French, often accepted as it is
- Register
- Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier (RCCM)
- Tax treaty
- Outside the Dutch treaty list: Dutch rules apply (Rijksoverheid, 1 October 2026)
- EU trade
- Partnership talks paused since 2011
- Moving here
- Residence permit needed
Documents from Gabon
Passport copy, certified by a notary in Gabon.
Proof of address in Gabon, at most three months old.
Power of attorney. Sign the power of attorney before a notary in Gabon, then take it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Libreville for the legalisation of the notary’s signature.
Ownership statement, one page from us.
Legalisation. Legalisation by the Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Libreville is the only stamp the Netherlands asks for documents from Gabon, so the Dutch embassy step falls away (Netherlands Worldwide).
Official page: https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/legalisation/foreign-documents/gabon
If a company from Gabon becomes a shareholder
Register extract, at most three months old: Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier (RCCM). A company gets its RCCM number through the one-stop shop of the investment promotion agency: the authorities have 48 hours to object to the filing, and then the number follows (Gabon’s Investment Charter, Law 15/98 of 23 July 1998; UNCTAD Investment Policy Hub). Order a recent RCCM extract and the statutes. Plus articles, signing authority and ownership chart.
Gabon and the EU: trade and tax
Since 2014, Gabon has traded with the EU on standard terms. As an upper-middle-income country in the World Bank classification, it left the EU’s preference schemes (European Commission). Goods from Gabon pay the normal EU import duty.
Two EU rules matter for manganese. The EU lists manganese as a critical raw material (European Commission). Ferro-manganese also falls under the EU carbon border rules (CBAM). An importer of more than 50 tonnes of CBAM goods a year needs the status of authorised CBAM declarant before it imports.
Wood falls under the EU deforestation rules (EUDR). Large and medium-sized companies apply them from 30 December 2026. For wood products that the EU Timber Regulation already covered, that date applies to small companies as well. The company that first places the wood on the EU market files the due diligence statement and keeps the proof of where the trees were harvested.
A Dutch company can be the EU importer for these goods, with its own customs and VAT numbers. Gabon also lacks a tax treaty with the Netherlands, so Dutch dividend tax on payments to a Gabonese owner is the standard 15% (Netherlands Worldwide, July 2025).
Your next step from Gabon
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