Dutch Senate approves legislative proposal that will facilitate publication of inspection-related information

On 1 November 2016, the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) approved a legislative proposal for the Law on the active publication of inspection information, which allows and regulates conditions for the proactive (ex officio) publication of information related to inspections by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit), the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate (Inspectie voor de Gezondheidszorg), and the Dutch Youth Care Inspectorate (Inspectie Jeugdzorg). The aims of the law are to offer transparency to companies and consumers and to increase compliance by companies and practitioners in all sectors concerned (in particular, food, healthcare and youthcare).

At present, information related to inspections is made public pursuant to the Government Information Public Access Act (Wet openbaarheid van bestuur - Wob). Under the new law, authorities will no longer be required to balance interests on a case-by-case basis before publication, making the process less laborious in comparison to the Wob procedure. Proactive publication remains subject to certain restrictions, which are similar as under Wob: personal data or information protected by business confidentiality or professional secrecy will not be published.

The date of entry into force of the law has not yet been determined.

A prior version of this post was originally published by the same authors in Practical Law – Life Sciences, November 2016 Issue (Thomson Reuters).

This post was originally co-authored by Elsie Troll.