The short answer
To find a company's phone number in Belgium or the Netherlands, start with the company's own website. Dutch rules require a business website to show an email address and a phone number; Belgian law requires an email address, and a phone number only on sites that sell to consumers at a distance. Then check the company's Google Business Profile, then the register. Belgium's KBO Public Search shows a phone number only when the company registered one, and even Colruyt Group and AB InBev have none. The Dutch KVK has not shown phone numbers publicly since 25 September 2024. Goudengids.be and De Telefoongids fill gaps. All of these give you the switchboard. A named person's direct dial comes from a contact data provider, and every Belgian number must be screened against the Bel-me-niet-meer list before a sales call.
Register and legal facts below come from KBO Public Search, KVK, the FPS Economy and the Dutch government's business portal, read on 30 September 2026.
Switchboard or direct dial: know which one you need
A switchboard number belongs to the company: reception, a general line, a sales desk. It is what websites, registers, Google and directories publish. It is the right number to confirm who handles a topic, to ask for someone by name, or to reach a small business where the owner answers the general line anyway.
A direct dial is the line or mobile of one named person. No public register holds it, and because it identifies a person, it is personal data under the GDPR. If you need to reach the finance director of a 300-person company, the switchboard gets you to a gatekeeper, and the direct dial is a different search, covered further down.
Where to look, in order
Source | Belgium | Netherlands | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
Company website | Email required; phone only for distance selling to consumers | Email and phone required | Switchboard, sometimes department lines |
Google Business Profile | Yes | Yes | Switchboard or branch number |
Business register | KBO: phone public if the company registered one | KVK: phone not public | Registered company number, if any |
Directories | Goudengids.be, Pagesdor.be | De Telefoongids (detelefoongids.nl) | Listed business number |
LinkedIn company page | If the admin added it | If the admin added it | Switchboard |
Contact data provider | Yes | Yes | Direct dials and mobiles of named people |
1. The company website
Look at the contact page, the footer and the legal notice. In Belgium, article XII.6 of the Code of Economic Law requires a business website to show the company name, its address, contact details that allow fast and effective communication "including an email address", and the enterprise number. The FPS Economy adds that a phone number is required when you can conclude a distance contract with consumers on the site. So a B2B company in Belgium can legally publish only an email address or a contact form, and many do.
In the Netherlands the government's business portal lists email address and phone number among the details a business must show on its website, plus the KVK number and VAT ID for companies that sell online. A Dutch company site without a phone number is the exception.
Even when the number is missing, the website gives you the enterprise number or KVK number, which is the key for every register lookup that follows.
2. Google Business Profile
Search the company name on Google or Google Maps. The profile often shows a phone number per location, which helps when a company has several sites. One caution: Google says it "may apply suggested user edits" to a profile without prior review, and may publish a suggestion if the owner does not respond within 4 days. A number on Google is usually right, but it is not always the company's own entry. When the website and Google disagree, trust the website.
3. Belgium: the KBO
KBO Public Search (kbopub.economie.fgov.be) shows every enterprise's general data, and that includes fields for phone number, fax number, email and web address. They are filled only when the company entered them, which it can do itself through My Enterprise. When a company never did, the field reads "Geen gegevens opgenomen in KBO", no data recorded in the KBO.
In practice that happens a lot. On 30 September 2026 Proximus showed a switchboard number and website in the KBO, while Colruyt Group and AB InBev showed no phone, email or website at all. Newly incorporated companies are usually empty too: when we checked forty recent incorporations for finding new Belgian companies, not one had a phone number in the register. Whatever the KBO does show is a company number, not a person; finding the decision-maker in a Belgian SME covers the step from company to person.
4. The Netherlands: the KVK
The Dutch Handelsregister does not help here. KVK lists "a phone number of an officer, business, organisation or establishment" as non-public data, and it shielded phone numbers from public view from 25 September 2024. Only organisations with an authorisation, such as notaries, can still see them. Email address and internet address are public, so a KVK lookup can still lead you back to the website. Looking up a KVK number shows how to find the right entry first. If a Dutch file you bought contains phone numbers, they came from websites, directories or a provider, not from the register.
5. Directories
In Belgium, Goudengids.be (Pagesdor.be in French) lets you search businesses by name or by trade. In the Netherlands, De Telefoongids and the Gouden Gids live on at detelefoongids.nl, where you search by business name and place. Directories are strongest for local trades and small businesses that barely have a website. A listing is only as current as the last time the business updated it, so check it against a second source.
6. LinkedIn
A LinkedIn company page can show a phone number in its About section if an admin filled it in. It is a switchboard at best. LinkedIn is more useful for the next question: who works there and in which role, so that you can ask for them by name when you call the general line.
Finding a direct dial
A named person's direct line is not in any register, website footer or directory. You get it from the person, from an email signature or earlier conversation, or from a contact data provider that sources and validates mobile and direct numbers. Coverage in Europe differs sharply between providers, and many numbers returned are not usable; our benchmark of phone data providers for EMEA sets out which providers return the most European numbers and how accurate they are.
Doing all of this by hand works for five companies. For two hundred it becomes the job. Bizzy puts the general company phone number, taken from company websites and Google Maps listings, on the company record next to the KBO data for Belgian companies and Creditsafe data for Dutch ones, and adds direct dials for named contacts, validated through providers such as Prospeo. Both can be pushed into HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or another connected CRM. You can start for free.
Before you call
In Belgium every number you call for sales, business lines included, must first be screened against the Bel-me-niet-meer list (see cold calling in Belgium), while in the Netherlands you may call a BV or NV without consent but not a sole trader or partnership, as set out in the rules for B2B cold outreach in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
Is a company's phone number in the KBO? Only if the company registered one. KBO Public Search has a phone field, but many companies, including large ones such as Colruyt Group and AB InBev, leave it empty.
Can I find a Dutch company's phone number through the KVK? No. Phone numbers in the Handelsregister are not public data, and KVK has shielded them since 25 September 2024. The email address and website in the register are public.
What is the difference between a switchboard number and a direct dial? A switchboard number belongs to the company and is published on its website, Google profile or in the register. A direct dial reaches one named person, is personal data under the GDPR and is not published in any register.
Where do phone numbers in bought company lists come from? From company websites, Google listings, directories and contact data providers. For Dutch companies they cannot come from the KVK, and for Belgian ones the KBO covers only companies that registered a number. Ask the vendor which source each number came from.
Photo: the Saint Rumbold tower in Mechelen at sunset, Robert Piessens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons