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Netherlands

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 Information

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Pending IRM Review

Relevant to OGP Values: Pending IRM Review

Potential Impact: Pending IRM Review

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

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

  1. Present legislation on campaign finance transparency

    NL0039, 2020, Anti-Corruption

  2. Create national portal for transparent election results

    NL0040, 2020, Anti-Corruption

  3. Develop and implement digital participation platform at local level

    NL0041, 2020, Automated Decision-Making

  4. Make FOIA information available through open data platform

    NL0042, 2020, Access to Information

  5. Encourage active disclosure of government information

    NL0043, 2020, Regulatory Governance

  6. Implement plain language initiatives

    NL0044, 2020, Capacity Building

  7. Determine balance between government confidentiality and citizens' right to information

    NL0045, 2020, Access to Information

  8. Training civil servants in active disclosure

    NL0046, 2020, Capacity Building

  9. Develop contract monitoring register

    NL0047, 2020, Anti-Corruption

  10. Pilot open data communities concept

    NL0048, 2020, Access to Information

  11. Increase availability of open source software

    NL0049, 2020, Automated Decision-Making

  12. Improve government purchase and use of algorithms

    NL0050, 2020, Automated Decision-Making

  13. Publish complaints about public services as open data

    NL0051, 2020, Access to Information

  14. Local Digital Democracy

    NL0028, 2018, E-Government

  15. Dilemma Logic

    NL0029, 2018, Capacity Building

  16. Join EITI

    NL0030, 2018, Access to Information

  17. Open Algorithms

    NL0031, 2018, Automated Decision-Making

  18. Open Local Decision-Making

    NL0032, 2018, Access to Information

  19. ‘Open by Design’ Pilots

    NL0033, 2018, Access to Information

  20. Open Contracting

    NL0034, 2018, Access to Information

  21. Open Parliament

    NL0035, 2018, Anti-Corruption

  22. Open Government Standard and Dashboard

    NL0036, 2018, Access to Information

  23. Pioneering Network for an Open Government for Municipalities

    NL0037, 2018, Capacity Building

  24. Transparent Political Party Finance

    NL0038, 2018, Anti-Corruption

  25. National Open Data Agenda

    NL0019, 2016, Access to Information

  26. Stuiveling Open Data Award

    NL0020, 2016, Access to Information

  27. Groningen Open Data Re-Use

    NL0021, 2016, Access to Information

  28. Releasing Ministerial Research Reports

    NL0022, 2016, Access to Information

  29. Detailed Open Spending Data

    NL0023, 2016, Access to Information

  30. Open Local Authority Decision-Making

    NL0024, 2016, Access to Information

  31. Training Civil Servants on Public Participation

    NL0025, 2016, Capacity Building

  32. Easier Freedom of Information Requests

    NL0026, 2016, Access to Information

  33. Open Government Expertise Centre (LEOO)

    NL0027, 2016, Access to Information

  34. Further Develop and Promote Disclosure and Use of Open Data

    NL0001, 2013, Access to Information

  35. Increase Financial Transparency Through Open Budget and Experiments with Open Spending and Budget Monitoring

    NL0002, 2013, Access to Information

  36. Open House of Representatives

    NL0003, 2013, E-Government

  37. Instruments for Integrity

    NL0004, 2013, Anti-Corruption

  38. Revamp the Legislative Calendar

    NL0005, 2013, Access to Information

  39. More Online Consultation

    NL0006, 2013, E-Government

  40. More Transparency in Decision-Making Through Volgdewet.Nl Legislation-Tracking Website

    NL0007, 2013, Access to Information

  41. Informal Approach to Freedom of Information Requests

    NL0008, 2013, Access to Information

  42. From Rules to Freedom

    NL0009, 2013, Public Participation

  43. Change Attitudes and Procedures Through Smarter Working and ‘Public Servant 2.0’

    NL0010, 2013, Capacity Building

  44. Water Coalition

    NL0011, 2013, Public Participation

  45. Develop and Implement Participation Policy at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment

    NL0012, 2013, Public Participation

  46. Make Government Information Accessible and Easy to Find

    NL0013, 2013, Capacity Building

  47. Make Citizens Better Informed and More Empowered: Public Inspection and Correction of Information

    NL0014, 2013, E-Government

  48. Open Announcements and Notifications

    NL0015, 2013, E-Government

  49. Public Services and the User Perspective

    NL0016, 2013, E-Government

  50. Designate Categories of Government Information for Active Access

    NL0017, 2013, Access to Information

  51. Rethink Information Management and Active Access: Four ‘Open by Design’ Pilot Projects

    NL0018, 2013, Access to Information

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