Transparency and Access to Government Information in the Netherlands

Some years ago, the Netherlands was regarded as a leading country in terms of transparency and access to government information. The Government Information (Public Access) Act (WOB, Wet openbaarheid van bestuur) came into force in 1980. Since then, many countries have introduced freedom-of-information legislation, and there are doubts as to whether practice and legislation in the Netherlands still meet present-day requirements with regard to transparency and access to information. The Netherlands has fallen behind in comparison with other countries that have recently introduced a Freedom of Information Act.