Make FOIA information available through open data platform (NL0042)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Netherlands Action Plan 2020-2022
Action Plan Cycle: 2020
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Province of North-Holland
Support Institution(s): Other actors involved State actors involved Province of South-Holland Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) Regional Water Authorities (intended) Several municipalities National Police Other provinces (intended) CSOs, private sector, multi-laterals, working groups Open State Foundation (OSF) VNG Realisatie
Policy Areas
Access to Information, E-Government, Open Data, Right to InformationDescription
What is the public problem that the commitment will address? FOIA information often lacks accessability and transparency, both in terms of content and procedures. Promoting public access and a more transparent government by making the Wob (FOIA) information more transparent when it is published, will solve this issue. The Wob, which has so far been the most important instrument for obtaining government information, is expected to be transferred to the Open Government Act (Woo) in 2021. The Woo has a broader scope and aims to move from passive disclosure to active disclosure of government information. Furthermore, the Woo requires a transparency register. An anti-abuse provision is included for the information requests themselves. With the introduction of the Woo, the Wob will lapse. In addition to active disclosure of information, the Woo asks government organizations to put their information management in order. This action point offers government organizations the opportunity to prepare for this. With this, the introduction of the Woo offers governments an opportunity to organize this at inter-administrative level.
What is the commitment? The proposed commitment is a sequel to the Open Wob commitment from the third Open Government action plan (2018-2020) (commitment 5). From the start, the working group has expressed a clear commitment to scaling up the results: 1. Making sure more authorities are making available FOIA information in standardized open formats. So that they become public in an interchangeable and comparable manner; 2. The results are developed into a widely applicable information model; 3. Information is made available on a national platform for open government information. 14
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The main objective is to promote public access and a transparent government by providing more insight into FOIA information, both in terms of content and procedure. A number of standards have been established for this, on the basis of which governments can publish public government information in the form of open data in a simple and standardized way.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Improvement of accountability by applying the internationally applicable FAIR principles. This allows citizens and civil society to see whether the actions of public administration are in line with the general interest. Coupled with this is accountability by the public administration. The FOIA-process is the most important instrument in the Netherlands for obtaining information from the Public Administration. When this process improves, it automatically becomes easier to account for the administration. In addition, this contributes to transparency: insight into the actions of the government.
Additional information The participating government organizations that are going to apply the Open FOIA will provide the required budget and personnel capacity.2 The Ministery of the Interior and Kingdom Relations will contribute €15.000. Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start date: End date: Drawing up a standard to be able to publish Wob information (requests, decisions and appendices) in a comparable manner. This standard includes: - The development of the semantic standard into an information model; - A message standard to exchange in a technically similar way, API. January 1 2021 February 2021 The FOIA information is made available as open data as much as possible. The PLOOI platform is the preferred platform. Q2, Q3 2021 Q4 2021 A track to recruit a diverse group of at least twenty government organizations and to help them in making their FOIA documents available as open data in accordance with the standard. Q3 2021 Q4 2021 2 The implementation of the commitment depends on these contributions. In any case, budget is available up to and including Q1 2021. 15 With the help of online manuals, stakeholder group and a number of information sessions. Exploring how management of the standard and the availability of information can be guaranteed. December 2022 Tracking changes of the standard, with VNG Realisatie and others On going
Commitments
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Present legislation on campaign finance transparency
NL0039, 2020, Anti-Corruption
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Create national portal for transparent election results
NL0040, 2020, Anti-Corruption
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Develop and implement digital participation platform at local level
NL0041, 2020, Automated Decision-Making
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Make FOIA information available through open data platform
NL0042, 2020, Access to Information
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Encourage active disclosure of government information
NL0043, 2020, Regulatory Governance
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Implement plain language initiatives
NL0044, 2020, Capacity Building
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Determine balance between government confidentiality and citizens' right to information
NL0045, 2020, Access to Information
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Training civil servants in active disclosure
NL0046, 2020, Capacity Building
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Develop contract monitoring register
NL0047, 2020, Anti-Corruption
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Pilot open data communities concept
NL0048, 2020, Access to Information
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Increase availability of open source software
NL0049, 2020, Automated Decision-Making
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Improve government purchase and use of algorithms
NL0050, 2020, Automated Decision-Making
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Publish complaints about public services as open data
NL0051, 2020, Access to Information
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Local Digital Democracy
NL0028, 2018, E-Government
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Dilemma Logic
NL0029, 2018, Capacity Building
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Join EITI
NL0030, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Algorithms
NL0031, 2018, Automated Decision-Making
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Open Local Decision-Making
NL0032, 2018, Access to Information
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‘Open by Design’ Pilots
NL0033, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Contracting
NL0034, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Parliament
NL0035, 2018, Anti-Corruption
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Open Government Standard and Dashboard
NL0036, 2018, Access to Information
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Pioneering Network for an Open Government for Municipalities
NL0037, 2018, Capacity Building
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Transparent Political Party Finance
NL0038, 2018, Anti-Corruption
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National Open Data Agenda
NL0019, 2016, Access to Information
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Stuiveling Open Data Award
NL0020, 2016, Access to Information
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Groningen Open Data Re-Use
NL0021, 2016, Access to Information
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Releasing Ministerial Research Reports
NL0022, 2016, Access to Information
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Detailed Open Spending Data
NL0023, 2016, Access to Information
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Open Local Authority Decision-Making
NL0024, 2016, Access to Information
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Training Civil Servants on Public Participation
NL0025, 2016, Capacity Building
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Easier Freedom of Information Requests
NL0026, 2016, Access to Information
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Open Government Expertise Centre (LEOO)
NL0027, 2016, Access to Information
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Further Develop and Promote Disclosure and Use of Open Data
NL0001, 2013, Access to Information
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Increase Financial Transparency Through Open Budget and Experiments with Open Spending and Budget Monitoring
NL0002, 2013, Access to Information
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Open House of Representatives
NL0003, 2013, E-Government
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Instruments for Integrity
NL0004, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Revamp the Legislative Calendar
NL0005, 2013, Access to Information
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More Online Consultation
NL0006, 2013, E-Government
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More Transparency in Decision-Making Through Volgdewet.Nl Legislation-Tracking Website
NL0007, 2013, Access to Information
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Informal Approach to Freedom of Information Requests
NL0008, 2013, Access to Information
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From Rules to Freedom
NL0009, 2013, Public Participation
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Change Attitudes and Procedures Through Smarter Working and ‘Public Servant 2.0’
NL0010, 2013, Capacity Building
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Water Coalition
NL0011, 2013, Public Participation
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Develop and Implement Participation Policy at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment
NL0012, 2013, Public Participation
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Make Government Information Accessible and Easy to Find
NL0013, 2013, Capacity Building
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Make Citizens Better Informed and More Empowered: Public Inspection and Correction of Information
NL0014, 2013, E-Government
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Open Announcements and Notifications
NL0015, 2013, E-Government
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Public Services and the User Perspective
NL0016, 2013, E-Government
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Designate Categories of Government Information for Active Access
NL0017, 2013, Access to Information
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Rethink Information Management and Active Access: Four ‘Open by Design’ Pilot Projects
NL0018, 2013, Access to Information