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De Nationale Ombudsman, Netherlands

The Office

1. On March 25th, 1999, the office of National Ombudsman was embodied in the Constitution, in a new article 78a. This article has been added to the section of which also the Council of State and the Court of Audit form a part. Article 78a reads as follows:

• "1. The National Ombudsman shall investigate, on request or of his own initiative, actions taken by central government administrative authorities and other administrative authorities designated by or pursuant to Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 2. The National Ombudsman and a Deputy Ombudsman shall be appointed by the Lower House of the States General for a period to be determined by Act of Parliament. They may resign or retire on reaching an age to be determined by Act of Parliament. They may be suspended or dismissed by the Lower House of the States General in circumstances prescribed by Act of Parliament. Other aspects of their legal status shall be regulated by Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 3. The powers and methods of the National Ombudsman shall be regulated by Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 4. The National Ombudsman may be charged with other tasks by or pursuant to Act of Parliament."

2. The office of National Ombudsman of the Netherlands was established on January 1st, 1982, based on the National Ombudsman Act of February 4th, 1981, which is now an organic act.

3. The Minister of Justice has published a memorandum with his view on some major changes in the organisation of the judiciary. One element is a modern complaint system. After a complaint has been dealt with internally, by the court it concerns, there should be access to an external, independent authority, namely an Ombudsman. Discussion is still ongoing about the question whether this should be a special Ombudsman for the judiciary (with an incumbent who has been a judge), although associated with the office of the National Ombudsman, or if this task should be given to the National Ombudsman. Important element in this discussion is interpretation of an article in the Constitution about supervision of the judiciary.

In a meeting with the Minister of Justice, the National Ombudsman has expressed as his view that, in case of the planned modernization, the task should be assigned to the National Ombudsman, instead of setting up a separate ombudsman for the judiciary.
 

The work

1. March 17th, 1999, the Annual Report 1998 has been presented to the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament. Early May, the summary in English was distributed among colleague-offices.
The full text of the annual report in Dutch is available on the website of the National Ombudsman.

2. April 20, 1999, the National Ombudsman published an important report (291 pages, excluding enclosures; Dutch version available on the website) as a result of his investigation of the use in the army of a so called anti-personal mine, which led to two serious incidents. In 1983, 7 soldiers were killed and 9 wounded in an instruction room when the mine was demonstrated. A dummy had been replaced by an armed one. In 1984, a sergeant was killed when the mine suddenly exploded during a test. The National Ombudsman found reason for severe criticism. Already in 1970 an internal investigation had made clear that the mine had a construction problem, which resulted in a high safety risk. However, the 1970-report did not receive the required attention. Also after the incident of 1983 and 1984 not all necessary measures had been taken. Moreover, the relatives of the victims and the survivors, as well as the Lower House, had not always been informed promptly and properly.

In April, 1998, the Standing Committee for Defence of the Lower House felt that a final and thorough independent investigation should be carried out on the subject, before the file could be closed, politically and to the persons concerned. The Committee asked the National Ombudsman whether he would be willing to carry out this investigation. After some discussion, the National Ombudsman replied positively. As it would be strange to consider Parliament as a complainant, and because parliament is neither in a position to give instructions to the National Ombudsman with regard to the use of his powers of investigation, the National Ombudsman decided to use his power to investigate on his own initiative as the formal basis for the project. This was the first time for Parliament to approach the National Ombudsman with a request for investigation.
 

International contacts

Visits abroad of National Ombudsman Marten Oosting

• May 8-14: visit to Taiwan, at the invitation of the President of the Control Yuan, Mr. Fredrick Chien. The Control Yuan awarded Marten Oosting, for his contribution to the development of the Ombudsman concept around the world, with the First Grade Control Yuan Medal;
  
  
• May 17-20: visit to Ukraine, to participate, together with the region Ombudman of Catalonia, Spain, in a workshop organised by the Ombudsperson of the Ukraine, Ms. Nina Karpachova, in cooperation with the Council of Europe.
  
  
• June 8-9: visit to Ireland, for meeting at the office of the Ombudsman of Ireland, at the invitation of the Ombudsman, Mr. Kevin Murphy.

Visitors received

• Professor Sunaryati, emeritus professor international law at the University of Parahyangan in Bandung, Indonesia. Chairman of the Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Indonesia, responsible for the preparation of legislation on the Ombudsman;
  
  
• Ambassador Gret Haller, Human Rights Ombudsperson for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and staff;
  
  
• Mr. Bernard Hubeau, the newly appointed Parliamentary Ombudsman of Flanders;
  
  
• Mr. K. Takasaki and official, vice-inspector of Administrative Inspection Agency from Japan;
  
  
• Delegation of 8 persons from the National Convention Assembly, Kenya, and the National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe. Delegation members are involved in the constitutional reform process of their country.

Miscellaneous

1. In the middle of June, 1999, the jurisprudence-system of the National Ombudsman, which so far can only be used in the office itself, will be made accessible on the website of the National Ombudsman. Over 4000 reports, full text, will be part of the system. About 90% of all future reports will be included in the system.

2. April 8th, 1998, at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Mr. Edward Pechler defended his PhD dissertation "Ombudsman provisions and taxation matters". The study focuses on the significance of the National Ombudsman on taxation matters. Both the impact of the National Ombudsman on the administrative practice and his contribution to the creation of law and the development of tax law have been taken into consideration.

The English summary of the book is to be found on the website of the National Ombudsman.

De Nationale Ombudsman, Netherlands

The Office

1. On March 25th, 1999, the office of National Ombudsman was embodied in the Constitution, in a new article 78a. This article has been added to the section of which also the Council of State and the Court of Audit form a part. Article 78a reads as follows:

• "1. The National Ombudsman shall investigate, on request or of his own initiative, actions taken by central government administrative authorities and other administrative authorities designated by or pursuant to Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 2. The National Ombudsman and a Deputy Ombudsman shall be appointed by the Lower House of the States General for a period to be determined by Act of Parliament. They may resign or retire on reaching an age to be determined by Act of Parliament. They may be suspended or dismissed by the Lower House of the States General in circumstances prescribed by Act of Parliament. Other aspects of their legal status shall be regulated by Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 3. The powers and methods of the National Ombudsman shall be regulated by Act of Parliament.
  
  
• 4. The National Ombudsman may be charged with other tasks by or pursuant to Act of Parliament."

2. The office of National Ombudsman of the Netherlands was established on January 1st, 1982, based on the National Ombudsman Act of February 4th, 1981, which is now an organic act.

3. The Minister of Justice has published a memorandum with his view on some major changes in the organisation of the judiciary. One element is a modern complaint system. After a complaint has been dealt with internally, by the court it concerns, there should be access to an external, independent authority, namely an Ombudsman. Discussion is still ongoing about the question whether this should be a special Ombudsman for the judiciary (with an incumbent who has been a judge), although associated with the office of the National Ombudsman, or if this task should be given to the National Ombudsman. Important element in this discussion is interpretation of an article in the Constitution about supervision of the judiciary.

In a meeting with the Minister of Justice, the National Ombudsman has expressed as his view that, in case of the planned modernization, the task should be assigned to the National Ombudsman, instead of setting up a separate ombudsman for the judiciary.
 

The work

1. March 17th, 1999, the Annual Report 1998 has been presented to the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament. Early May, the summary in English was distributed among colleague-offices.
The full text of the annual report in Dutch is available on the website of the National Ombudsman.

2. April 20, 1999, the National Ombudsman published an important report (291 pages, excluding enclosures; Dutch version available on the website) as a result of his investigation of the use in the army of a so called anti-personal mine, which led to two serious incidents. In 1983, 7 soldiers were killed and 9 wounded in an instruction room when the mine was demonstrated. A dummy had been replaced by an armed one. In 1984, a sergeant was killed when the mine suddenly exploded during a test. The National Ombudsman found reason for severe criticism. Already in 1970 an internal investigation had made clear that the mine had a construction problem, which resulted in a high safety risk. However, the 1970-report did not receive the required attention. Also after the incident of 1983 and 1984 not all necessary measures had been taken. Moreover, the relatives of the victims and the survivors, as well as the Lower House, had not always been informed promptly and properly.

In April, 1998, the Standing Committee for Defence of the Lower House felt that a final and thorough independent investigation should be carried out on the subject, before the file could be closed, politically and to the persons concerned. The Committee asked the National Ombudsman whether he would be willing to carry out this investigation. After some discussion, the National Ombudsman replied positively. As it would be strange to consider Parliament as a complainant, and because parliament is neither in a position to give instructions to the National Ombudsman with regard to the use of his powers of investigation, the National Ombudsman decided to use his power to investigate on his own initiative as the formal basis for the project. This was the first time for Parliament to approach the National Ombudsman with a request for investigation.
 

International contacts

Visits abroad of National Ombudsman Marten Oosting

• May 8-14: visit to Taiwan, at the invitation of the President of the Control Yuan, Mr. Fredrick Chien. The Control Yuan awarded Marten Oosting, for his contribution to the development of the Ombudsman concept around the world, with the First Grade Control Yuan Medal;
  
  
• May 17-20: visit to Ukraine, to participate, together with the region Ombudman of Catalonia, Spain, in a workshop organised by the Ombudsperson of the Ukraine, Ms. Nina Karpachova, in cooperation with the Council of Europe.
  
  
• June 8-9: visit to Ireland, for meeting at the office of the Ombudsman of Ireland, at the invitation of the Ombudsman, Mr. Kevin Murphy.

Visitors received

• Professor Sunaryati, emeritus professor international law at the University of Parahyangan in Bandung, Indonesia. Chairman of the Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Indonesia, responsible for the preparation of legislation on the Ombudsman;
  
  
• Ambassador Gret Haller, Human Rights Ombudsperson for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and staff;
  
  
• Mr. Bernard Hubeau, the newly appointed Parliamentary Ombudsman of Flanders;
  
  
• Mr. K. Takasaki and official, vice-inspector of Administrative Inspection Agency from Japan;
  
  
• Delegation of 8 persons from the National Convention Assembly, Kenya, and the National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe. Delegation members are involved in the constitutional reform process of their country.

Miscellaneous

1. In the middle of June, 1999, the jurisprudence-system of the National Ombudsman, which so far can only be used in the office itself, will be made accessible on the website of the National Ombudsman. Over 4000 reports, full text, will be part of the system. About 90% of all future reports will be included in the system.

2. April 8th, 1998, at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Mr. Edward Pechler defended his PhD dissertation "Ombudsman provisions and taxation matters". The study focuses on the significance of the National Ombudsman on taxation matters. Both the impact of the National Ombudsman on the administrative practice and his contribution to the creation of law and the development of tax law have been taken into consideration.

The English summary of the book is to be found on the website of the National Ombudsman.