{"id":38838,"date":"2025-07-07T12:45:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T10:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/?p=38838"},"modified":"2025-07-07T13:06:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T11:06:43","slug":"legal-recommendations-to-strengthen-access-to-information-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/2025-07-07\/legal-recommendations-to-strengthen-access-to-information-in-the-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Recommendations to Strengthen Access to Information in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1144px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-blend:overlay;--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><b><i>Madrid, 7 July 2025 \u2013 Today Access Info Europe, in collaboration with SPOON, publishes a set of legal recommendations aimed at strengthening the Netherlands&#8217; Open Government Act (OGA) and aligning it with international transparency standards.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Netherlands has recently taken significant steps to strengthen its legal framework on access to information. On 1 May 2022, the Open Government Act (OGA) entered into force, replacing earlier legislation and establishing clearer obligations for public authorities, with a strong emphasis on proactive disclosure. Additionally, enhancing the accessibility and organisation of public sector information remains a priority under the Netherlands\u2019 Fifth Open Government National Action Plan.<\/p>\n<p><b style=\"color: #c42620;\">Progress Made, But Gaps Remain<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Despite these improvements, there are growing concerns that the OGA and its implementation in the Netherlands still have critical shortcomings, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: var(--awb-text-color); font-family: var(--awb-text-font-family); font-size: var(--awb-font-size); font-style: var(--awb-text-font-style); letter-spacing: var(--awb-letter-spacing); text-align: var(--awb-content-alignment); text-transform: var(--awb-text-transform); background-color: var(--awb-bg-color);\">Conflicting laws can override the OGA;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var(--awb-text-color); font-family: var(--awb-text-font-family); font-size: var(--awb-font-size); font-style: var(--awb-text-font-style); letter-spacing: var(--awb-letter-spacing); text-align: var(--awb-content-alignment); text-transform: var(--awb-text-transform); background-color: var(--awb-bg-color);\">Broad exemptions to disclosure, often lacking a public interest test;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: var(--awb-text-color); font-family: var(--awb-text-font-family); font-size: var(--awb-font-size); font-style: var(--awb-text-font-style); letter-spacing: var(--awb-letter-spacing); text-align: var(--awb-content-alignment); text-transform: var(--awb-text-transform); background-color: var(--awb-bg-color);\">Weak oversight and enforcement mechanisms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the recommendations published today, Access Info emphasises what legal changes are needed for the Netherlands to meet the standards of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Troms\u00f8 Convention), which the Netherlands has not yet signed.<\/p>\n<p>It also lays out further changes needed to bring the Netherlands in line with the global RTI Rating \u2013 the leading methodology for assessing access to information laws.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Hanna, Executive Director of Access Info:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe right to information can only be ensured by a strong legal framework. There has been progress on transparency in the Netherlands, including under its membership of the Open Government Partnership. However, there are still legal and practical obstacles that prevent citizens from fully exercising their right to information. These problems must be addressed in order to enhance transparency, foster trust, and promote democratic engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Tim Staal, Co-Founder of SPOON:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe Netherlands adopted a new transparency law only three years ago, however this new law still does not meet several important and basic international standards. The Dutch government likes to see itself as open, but without the necessary legislative guarantees our right to government transparency will remain weak.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><b style=\"color: #c42620;\">Informing the Five-Year Review<\/b><\/p>\n<p>These targeted recommendations to better align the OGA with the Troms\u00f8 Convention and international best practices can be used to inform the upcoming five-year review of the OGA.<\/p>\n<p>Access Info and SPOON urge the Dutch government to seize this moment to make meaningful reforms, and to sign and ratify the Troms\u00f8 Convention.<\/p>\n<p>Download the legal recommendations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Access-to-Documents-in-Netherlands_-Recommendations-for-Legal-Reform.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b style=\"color: #c42620;\">About the ATI Network Project:<\/b> Access Info Europe, along with mySociety and Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, are partners of the ATI Network Project. This three-year project aims to build a cohesive, wide, and activated community that is working to strengthen the right of access to information across the European region.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":38849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838","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\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38838"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38851,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838\/revisions\/38851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}