{"id":13313,"date":"2010-01-20T14:39:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T14:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/?p=13313"},"modified":"2018-11-13T10:14:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T09:14:00","slug":"request-process-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/2010-01-20\/request-process-in-the-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Request Process in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/timeline\/latest\/embed\/index.html?source=0AhLalyNZ3fdjdEhpZE9oZmVLMkx2cjc4V09ZMzZEcnc&amp;font=Bevan-PotanoSans&amp;maptype=toner&amp;lang=en&amp;height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Summary:\u00a0 \u20ac75,000 Is \u00abCost-Price\u00bb for Access to the Company Register<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h4>\n<div class=\"fusion-table table-1\">\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<thead><\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Request sent to<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Chamber of Commerce<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Outcome of request<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Initial Request:<\/strong> Information Refused.<br \/>\n<strong>Administrative Appeal:<\/strong> No response &#8211; Administrative Silence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Time taken to respond<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>The initial request was not received by the Chamber of Commerce. Once it was re-sent the response arrived on the same day (Deadline is 14 calendar days).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Reason for refusal<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Must pay for the information.<br \/>\n(They are charging cost-price for the information.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\">\n<p>The initial request was sent by Access Info Europe to the Dutch <strong>Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> on 28 August 2013. The Dutch Government Information (Public Access) Act requires the administration to answer within <strong>14 calendar days<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\">\n<p>We heard no response within the deadline so one month later, in late September, we called the Chamber of Commerce by telephone and asked them if they had received the access to information request. They responded that it never arrived and asked us to send it to them again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\">\n<p>Access Info resent the request on 27 September 2013 and the Dutch Chamber of Commerce responded on the same day. They replied that they had 2.5 million companies in the database and that the information for each of them could be bought for <strong>0.03 cents<\/strong> per organisation. The entire data would therefore cost around <strong>75 000 Euros<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\">\n<p>On 3 October 2013, Access Info Europe appealed to the Chamber of Commerce to review this decision. We argued that according to the Dutch Government Information Act, access to data shall amount \u00abto no more than cost\u00bb and that therefore 75,000\u20ac was an unreasonable amount to pay. This is particularly so because access to information is a fundamental human right and because the database is created as part of the Register&#8217;s public functions, which are already paid for by taxpayers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\">\n<p>The response from the Chamber of Commerce on 4 October 2014 was that 0.03 cents per record was cost-price and that the full database would therefore cost \u20ac75,000.<\/p>\n<p>The deadline for presenting administrative appeals in the Netherlands for access to Information requests is six weeks, so on 15 November 2013, Access Info sent an <strong>administrative appeal<\/strong> to the Chamber of Commerce&#8217;s Head of Sales, arguing that access to the database was not refused on the basis of any of the exceptions contained in the Law on Access to Public Information but that on the contrary, citizens&#8217; right to exercise the right of access to information appeared to be contingent solely on their ability to pay 75,000\u20ac. Access Info argued that it was inappropriate to place a monetary constraint on access to a fundamental right such as the right of access to public information.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Chamber of Commerce never responded to the appeal, meaning that this was a case of administrative silence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>February 2015: <\/strong>Access Info Europe and our partners at OCCRP are now working together with pro bono lawyers at Morrison &amp; Foerster and the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice to analyze local laws and regulations affecting the availability of this information. We will use this analysis to determine what options are available to us for obtaining the requested information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4 data-canvas-width=\"188.6790037247047\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Accessing the Company Register in the Netherlands<\/span><\/h4>\n<div class=\"fusion-table table-1\">\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<thead><\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Information Available<\/td>\n<td>Trade names and address, business activities or registration numbers of companies.<br \/>\nIf available: telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, internet address, correspondence address.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Provision for public access<\/td>\n<td>Information is available for free on the website of the Dutch Trade Register. In order to access the Register, it is necessary to request a free access code. The search for information can be made using the trade name, address, or Chamber of Commerce number.If you pay for access, you can obtain the following information:<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>An extract:<\/strong> An official certificate of registration; a list of the company\u00b4s registered data, such as name, address, starting date, and in most cases officer; information about the legal entity, enterprise and legal office\/offices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Financial statement:<\/strong> with balance sheet, notes and, if relevant, income statement; annual report from the directors; and other information such as the auditor\u2019s report.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Corporate relationships:<\/strong> An overview of the structure of group a business partner belongs to; information about which legal entity is director, shareholder and liable party; clarity about whether one legal entity is sole shareholder, liable party or director of another legal entity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Deposits:<\/strong> a list of the documents a legal entity has filed with the Chamber of Commerce, and when; supplementary legal information, such as the legal form, registered office and size of the subscribed capital; information about mergers and divisions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A summary of the company\u00b4s main details:<\/strong> Chamber of Commerce number, legal form, banch code, and address details.<\/li>\n<li><strong>History of an entity:<\/strong> A list of changes made to the company\u00b4s main details; information about the authority of officers to sign on behalf of the company at a specific time; all former addresses, names, offices, legal forms and company descriptions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cost per record<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u20ac<\/span>0.03 per record<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cost for whole database<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u20ac<\/span>75,000 for full database<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Additional Information:<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Access the Company Register <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kvk.nl\/english\/trade-register\/\" target=\"_blank\">(Click here)<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Netherlands&#8217; Right to Information (RTI) Rating <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rti-rating.org\/view_country?country_name=Netherlands\" target=\"_blank\">(Click here)<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary:\u00a0 \u20ac75,000 Is \u00abCost-Price\u00bb for Access to the Company Register Request sent to Chamber of Commerce Outcome of request Initial Request: Information Refused. Administrative Appeal: No response &#8211; Administrative Silence Time taken to respond The initial request was not received by the Chamber of Commerce. Once it was re-sent the response arrived on the same day (Deadline is 14 calendar days). Reason for refusal Must pay for the information. (They are charging cost-price for the information.) &nbsp; The initial request was sent by Access Info Europe to the Dutch Chamber of Commerce on 28 August 2013. The Dutch Government Information<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13313"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18318,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13313\/revisions\/18318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}