Legal and government data notes

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Contents

Some reference

Legal and technical jargon (and abbreviations I keep seeing)

Akomo Ntoso - XML document format aimed at executive, legislative and judiciary documents, with a controlled vocabulary

Avv (algemeen verbindende voorschriften) -

AMvB (Algemene Maatregel van Bestuur)



BES - usually refers to the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius (a.k.a. the Caribbean Netherlands) which are considered in some ways part of the netherlands and/or the EU.

Bgr - Blad gemeenschappelijke regeling [1] - seems used for verordeningen, beleidsregels, besluiten van algemene strekking, overige overheidsinformatie

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)

BW - Burgerlijk Wetboek - dutch civil code, split into nine books

BWB - BasisWettenBestand - a collection of laws and regulations intended for easier disclosure [2]

BWB-ID - identifiers used in BWB look like BWBR0012345 (BWBV0012345 for treaties) - see also juriconnect


Circulaire - [3] [4]

CELEX - a numbering of EU documentsconsisting of sector, year, document type, and number

for example 32012L0019 (3=legislation; 2012; L=EU directives, )
e.g. used on EUR-Lex

CGA - ?

College B&W - burgemeester en wethouders, samen het dagelijks bestuur van een bepaalde gemeente

roughly 'college of mayor and aldermen' which execute daily executive power(verify)


DROP - Decentrale Regelgeving en Officiële Publicaties [5]

Alle publicaties die via DROP gedaan worden zijn zichtbaar op www.officielebekendmakingen.nl.
beleidsregels
(not to be confused with DRP', Decentrale Regelgeving Platform)


ECLI - European Case Law Identifier [6] is an URN-like thing that consists of :-separated...

"ECLI"
country code
court code (generally a whole bunch of specific ones, and a few special cases for courts of appeal, higher courts)
year
case identifier (ordinal?) (seems to be ([A-Z-z0-9.]{,25} but countries usually keep shorter and structured, and may have historical numbering sorted in, etc)


Gmb - Gemeenteblad - publications like local regulations and permits [7]

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)


Intitule - french-derived word (lit. "(en)titled"?) which grew to be used to mean 'title' for more official things?(verify)


Juriconnect (general documentation)

jci are references to laws and regulations, that look like
jci1.31:c:BWBR0012345&g=2005-01-01&artikel=3.1
the standard makes a point that these references might be referring to any/all versions of a thing, and only with these dates can it refer to to a text and actually work as an identifier
primarily applied to the BWB
some more notes below

Jurisprudentie - case law, closely related to common law, based primarily on precedents (meaning judicial decisions from previous cases)

JCDR (JuriConnect Decentrale Regelgeving) - seems to be juriconnect style references adapted to CVDR (rather than BWB)

“Identificatie van geconsolideerde decentrale regelgeving en een gestandaardiseerde manier om hiernaar elektronisch te verwijzen met het doel om deze met anderen te delen.”[8]
seems to regularly refer to 'CVDR-ID', somewhat like BWB identifiers.
See also CVDR and identifier notes below


KB - Koninklijk Besluit -



KOOP - Kennis- en Exploitatiecentrum Officiele OverheidsPublicaties

basically the people who are managing the data on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations [9] (verify)
https://www.koopoverheid.nl
is behind at least data.overheid.nl, overheid.nl, wetten.nl en www.officielebekendmakingen.nl


LJN - Landelijk Jurisprudentienummer, an identifier used for case law.

In many systems now replaced by and merged into ECLI (LJN lookups still tend to work one way or another)


Metalex - an european interchange format for legal and legislative resources, apparently a practical lowest common denominator of some more specific standards

http://www.metalex.eu/


OEP - Officiële publicaties (verify)

OWMS - Overheid.nl Web Metadata Standaard

seems intended as a specific extension of dublin core?
https://standaarden.overheid.nl/owms
https://standaarden.overheid.nl/owms/4.0/doc/eigenschappen


PBO - Publiekrechtelijke bedrijfsorganisatie(verify) are/were(?) groups of organisations (created based on Wet op de Bedrijfsorganisatie, BWBR0002058) that act as self-regulatory organizations for specific economic sectors, e.g. there was a dairy PBO that could set binding regulations for the entire sector(verify). This corporatist regulation originated post-WW2 and has and ed as per 2015(verify). [10] [11]

Prb - Provinciaal blad [12] - similar to gemeenteblad, but at the larger, provincial level

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)


Raad van State - a constitutionally established independent advisor to the Dutch government and its parliament, that is in particular consulted on proposed legislation [13]

Rijkswetnummer - starts with an R, used specifically on Kamerstukken that are rijkswetsvoorstellen?(verify) (only?(verify))


Staten-Generaal - Dutch Parialment - the Eerste Kamer and Tweede Kamer combined[14][15] as supreme[16] legislature

Stb - Staatsblad [17]

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)
used for laws, AMvBs, and other KBs(verify)
cf. Stcrt


Stcrt - Staatscourant [18]

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)
used for Algemeen bindende voorschriften; bekendmakingen van gemeenten, provincies, enz; gerechtelijke aankondigingen; Besluiten (verify)
cf. Stb, (also Gmb, Prb, Wsb)



STOP - Standaard Officiële Publicaties [19]


TOOI - Thesaurus en Ontologie Overheidsinformatie [20], from KOOP - an ontological model and theraurus

TOP-lijst (Thema-indeling voor Officiële Publicaties)

a list/ontology of some broad themes to use for publications [21]
part of TOOI?(verify)

Trb - Tractatenblad (... van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) - mainly treaties? [22]

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)


Uniforme Productnamenlijst (UPL) - list/ontology (with URI as identifier) used to be clear about products and services aimed at people and businesses : from
aanschrijving
to
rijbewijs
to
gasaansluitingsverzoek
to
batterijen en accu's-inzamelverplichting
Currently approx 1300 entries
there are specific subsets for gemeenten, provincies, waterschappen, and Rijksoverheid
not sure who exactly uses them
description expansion list with some notes


Verordening - government regulation of general application(verify), which can e.g. come from gemeente, province, waterschap, or be specific to one of the historically-Dutch islands(verify). Often but not necessarily prescriptive(verify)


Woo - Wet open overheid - one of the laws (BWBR0045754)

replaces the earlier Wet openbaarheid van bestuur (Wob)[23] (verify)

Woo-verzoek - request for on basis of Wet open overheid[24] to make certain government information public (e.g. if it isn't already) (covering what exactly?) [25]

towards Rijksoverheid, municipalities, provinces, waterschappen, Raad van State, de Nationale Ombudsman, de Raad voor de Rechtspraak, de Algemene Rekenkamer


Wsb - Waterschapsblad - the Dutch water board[26] is historically a thing separate from provinces.[27]

considered part of the officiele bekendmakingen (verify)

WTI - wetstechnische informatie (used in BWB, maybe more?)

mostly
"things legally based in part on this"
"things that reference this" (verify) - including jci style links
changes (the start of the date this varies a little with content type, within 2002~2005)
https://www.overheid.nl/help/wet-en-regelgeving/wetstechnische-informatie-regelingselement


ZBO - Zelfstandige BestuursOrgaan - organisations that perform a government task, interacting with but not part of a ministery [28].

From big to small, from public service providers, driving tests, inspection bodies, some things related to health care and banking, trade registries, commissions, etc[29]. In this context we usually see this in context of rules that apply to them (verify)


Identifier notes

Juriconnect and BWB-ID

Juriconnect is mainly used for hyperlinking within the BWB, including links to specific articles within a text.

They center on BWB's own identifiers (sometimes BWB-ID), which look like BWBR0012345.

jci links look like 

jci1.31:c:BWBR0012345&g=2005-01-01&artikel=3.1

where the structure is 

jci{version}:{type}:{BWB-nummer}{key-value}*


The current version of juriconnect is 1.3.1: [30], but see older variants


JCDR and CVDR-ID

CVDR-ID (also seen referred to as JCDR?) are identifiers within CVDR.


These include an enumeration/version number. For example: CVDR186651_6 is the sixth expression/consolidation of CVDR186651 (the work, to use FRBR terms)

Systems seem to treat the expression ID (with version) as document identifiers, and leave it merely implied that a work id is also a thing, ...though KOOP's SRU interface lets you search by workid.

Surprisingly, a lookup like https://lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl/CVDR186651 gives not the last but the first version; the last would be https://lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl/CVDR186651/6


See also:

https://www.forumstandaardisatie.nl/sites/bfs/files/proceedings/MvO%2020190313%20Forum%20Standaardisatie%20LX%20en%20standaarden_public.pdf
[31]
[32]

Names and abbreviations of laws

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes, is not well-checked so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)


It seems that before the 90s (Ar in 1992?(verify)), laws tended to be all capitalized, and since the 90s it's just the first word.

The last article of a law should settle the citeertitel - the way it should be cited. [33]


The logic to abbreviations seem a little more conventional, and abbreviations of laws do not seem to be in any way official.

While it seems older and/or shorter ones tend to have all-capitalized abbreviations, like WOB, AOW.

Longer ones tend to have only the first letter as a capital (particularly if you can pronounce it?(verify)), e.g. Wajong, which seems to follow the logic that the full citeertitel should be written that way[34]. That capital is often W for Wet, but not necessarily.

Examples in Ar seem to do this initial-only capitalization only for laws (except e.g. BW), and not for treaties.

There also seems to be a logic to follow established abbreviations, so older ones stay all-capitalized.


Lawyers and public officials who refer to laws a lot seem to also do this initial-capital-only, seemingly with a little less regard to origin/age.

European data

EUR-Lex

What:

European Union law
case law
other public EU documents
Official Journal of the European Union (OJ / OJEU)
mostly as HTML, PDF (and sometimes in multiple languages - potential parallel data?)

Accessible via:

Identifiers used: CELEX, ECLI, ELI

Source and/or responsible parties: Publications Office of the European Union


See also:

HUDOC

What:

Accessible via:

Identifiers used:

Source and/or responsible: European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) (verify)


See also:

Dutch data

There is overlap between sites, and e.g. between the KOOP's repositories.

This seems to come in part from the fact that different collections exist because of different laws, which happen to have overlapping requirements to the publication.

It e.g. seems that

  • officielebekendmakingen.nl comes from the Bekendmakingwet (BWBR0004287) - algemene regels (verify)
  • openoverheid.nl comes from Wet open overheid (BWBR0045754) (verify)



Legal restrictions on data

As Bestanden en hergebruik points out, Artikel 11 van de Auteurswet, BWBR0001886 says "Er bestaat geen auteursrecht op wetten, besluiten en verordeningen, door de openbare macht uitgevaardigd, noch op rechterlijke uitspraken en administratieve beslissingen")

Which seems to mean that the contents of laws (wetten), ordinances (verordeningen), and court judgments (vonnissen van rechtbanken) may have an author but no (copy)rights can be withheld.


While implicitly true from that law, some things make this situation more explicit for those not aware of that article.

For example, this marks the Basis Wetten Bestand as CC-0, but this seems purely a reiteration of intent, of something that was already free to use due to the mentioned law.


Other government publications may not be public domain.

Apparently you can still copy and publish such data - except if those specific copyrights are explicitly mentioned to be reserved (voorbehouden).


Consider for example the nature of varied ZBOs. Most seem to effectively government, but a few are edge cases, so you probably want to check out what they say about licensing.

For example,

  • acm.nl seems to reiterate, roughly, 'free to use/publish except where those rights are mentioned to be reserved. Like our logo.'
  • kansspelautoriteit.nl seems to put copyright on its website, but I do believe that applies to the site; the sanctions themselves are decisions that seem to be covered under that Article 11(verify).

Ask your local friendly expert about such details.

In website form

wetten.overheid.nl

What: Laws (Including treaties?)

Accessible via: Browser

Identifiers used: BWB-ID, jci

Source and/or responsible: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties


Note: Abbreviations for laws are not official - while laws often specifically set a name for themselves, they do not set abbreviations. Abbreviations mostly happen when things happen to be commonly referred to, either in general, or common in specific context (WW, WAO, Awb, Opw, Hw, Lw, Woo, Wajong), are set by convention (which does seem to avoid clashes), and e.g. the capitalisation isn't entirely consistent between them (or sometimes in use, e.g. WGR/Wgr(verify)).

wetgevingskalender.overheid.nl

What: Updates of the process around new national laws, treaties, AMvBs(verify)

Accesible via: Website

Identifiers used: its own (looks like WGK012345)


See also:

rechtspraak.nl

What: Case law data - XML metadata and RDF annotation

Accessible via: RESTish web API

Identifiers used: ECLI

'Source and/or responsible parties: Hoge Raad, Raad voor de rechtspraak (verify)


see this on Dutch use of ECLI (including a switch from LJN to ascending numbers in 2013)

The open-rechtspraak RDFs seem to internally use some ECLI-based identifiers that fake a sixth element (e.g. adding :INH for content indication, :DOC for judgment).


Description:


officielebekendmakingen.nl

What:

Staatsblad, Staatscourant, Provinciaal blad, Gemeenteblad, Waterschapsblad, Blad gemeenschappelijke regeling, Tractatenblad
Varied formats (often XML, HTML, PDF, ODT); metadata in XML

Identifiers used:

Accessible via:

Source and/or responsibility: varied?




Notes:

  • changing a law is typically a small document.
...other sites may contain a consolidated whole


  • some sources are a lot bulkier than others - the wikipedia article below gives a yearly estimate


https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officielebekendmakingen.nl


open.overheid.nl

Something like officielebekendmakingen.nl?

lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl

What: regulations from decentralized government - gemeenten, provincies, waterschappen

Identifiers used: seem to be called CVDR-ID or JCDR identifiers, see glossary above.

Source and/or responsibility: varied?(verify)


Wet elektronische bekendmaking means that since 2011, decetralized government must publish their regulations (algemeen verbindende voorschriften) in electronic form(verify).

Centrale Voorziening Decentrale Regelgeving (CVDR, see also below) seems to be the way they do so, and this seems to be that (verify)


See also:

data.overheid.nl

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes, is not well-checked so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

What: specific-topic datasets from government organisations and ZBOs(verify)

Accessible via: Website (mentions API is planned)

Search results: varied

Identifiers used: its own

Source and/or responsible: varied?


Larger contributors seem to include cbs.nl, nationaalgeoregister.nl, dataplatform.nl but also e.g. some municipalities.

License-wise, note that this is a mix of government organisations (which publish under what is effectively public domain), note that contributors may be ZBOs or other non-government organisation, and and limited copyright may apply - e.g. CBS seems to publish there under CC-BY.


Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek seems to be a large contributor (of data also available via its StatLine, at opendata.cbs.nl



See also:

PUC

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes, is not well-checked so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

What: Publicatieplatform UitvoeringsContent (PUC) is a place for government organisations to publish practical information, from policy, to manuals and more.

Accessible via: Website (mostly?)

Identifiers used: its own (looks like PUC_)

Source and/or responsible: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, BZK) (verify)


Mentions being a source of information from, currently,:


See also:

(unsorted, potential website resources)

raadvanstate.nl/adviezen
tweedekamer.nl
openbesluitvorming.nl

For an explanation, see https://ontola.io/nl/cases/openbesluitvorming

Currently offline because of financing reasons.

Code: https://github.com/ontola/openbesluitvorming


openraadsinformatie.nl

https://github.com/openstate/open-raadsinformatie/


openstate.eu

https://openstate.eu/nl/

Woo verzoeken
Woogle
openwob.nl
acm.nl (Autoriteit Consument & Markt)
afm.nl (Autoriteit Financiële Markten)
autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl
Sancties kansspelauthoriteit

https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/aanpak-misstanden/sanctiebesluiten/


ombudsman

https://ibestuur.nl/podium/niets-te-klagen-met-open-data

There seems to be a plan to open the data, but not be there yet?

Data form, and collections

KOOP repositories

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes, is not well-checked so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

There are over a dozen repositories which share a similar SRU interface for basic search and retrieval

a list is mentioned in KOOP's Handleiding SRU 2.0

See also https://www.overheid.nl/help/wet-en-regelgeving/een-eigen-kopie-van-het-basiswettenbestand-opbouwen



It seems that some of these repositories are also browsable via https://repository.overheid.nl/frbr/ (verify)



result entries

In XML, the entries are wrapped in Gemeenschappelijke zoekdienst Recordschema (gzd) which mostly just contains a <originalData> according to OWMS(verify), and an optional <enrichedData> that mentions where to fetch the varying locations of (parts of) the document



Exactly how each dataset works may take some further digging, and in some cases the significant parts of the data are in less than obvious places.

For example:


  • kamervragen (mostly the kv-tk set) are just the questions.
The answers are considered external appendices (ah-tk; Aanhangsel van de Handelingen).
And ah-tk itself is a combination of answers, and documents that are just the questions plus and a note on why they aren't answered yet(verify)
{[comment|(You may also be interested in https://www.openkamer.org/ which makes data from here and the tweede kamer odata API more accessible [35])}}


  • gemeenteblad entries seem to frequently be about permits, the result itself either just the request, or request and decision(verify)
there are frequently external appendices (documents submitted with the permit requests), not part of the document set, mentioned in the metadata and by ID, not URL, but looking at how the webpage links it, easily deeplinkable.
it may also have BWBR and CVDR IDs/links as relations, e.g. [36]


  • tweede kamer has dossiers that are a collection of kamerstukken (e.g. for wetsvoorstellen), but dossiers do not seem to be objects you can fetch, they seem to only be implied by the metadata
though tweede kamer open data has a list



Notes:

  • what may be structurally present or not in both originalData and enrichedData varies with dataset
...and sometimes with each specific set of documents


  • You will see the abbreviated forms of Staatsblad, Staatscourant, Provinciaal blad, Gemeenteblad, Waterschapsblad, Blad gemeenschappelijke regeling, Tractatenblad (stb, stcrt, prb, gmb, wsb, bgr, trb respectively) as part of document identifiers


  • there are further such abbreviations, some of which are categories, e.g.


Basis WettenBestand (BWB)

What: Data equivalent of wetten.overheid.nl(verify)

Accessible via: SRU

In formats: XML

Search result: XML and metadata

Identifiers used: BWB-ID; relations exist to ECLI(verify)



See also:


entry types (soort attribute in the toestand) include:

ministeriele-regeling
(~18k),
AMvB
(~3k),
zbo
(~3k),
beleidsregel
(~3k) (rijksdienst),
wet
(~3k),
pbo
(~2k),
ministeriele-regeling-archiefselectielijst
(~1k),
KB
(~800),
circulaire
(~500) (rijksdienst),
ministeriele-regeling-BES
(~300),
AMvB-BES
(~200),
wet-BES
(~150),
rijkswet
(~100),
rijksKB
(~80),
reglement
(~40) (van de Staten-Generaal),
beleidsregel-BES
(~30),
circulaire-BES
(~4),
rijksAMvB
(~1)


BWB search results

Keep in mind that a BWB number refers to all versions of a law, not a specific version of it (so is not technically an identifier)


This is why a jci reference will typically be more specific, adding a date, e.g. jci1.3:c:BWBR0045754&z=2022-08-01&g=2022-08-01 where

g for geldigheidsdatum (validity)
z for zichtdatum

Validity is useful to search for a specific version, and also to refer to a specific consolidation/version -- except in the cases of retroactively applying things you may technically have two that apply at the same time. The last is why zichtdatum was added in jci 1.3 - see page 4 of this but also the note in [37] that suggests this isn't strictly followed


The 'BWB refers to all versions/consolidations' is also part of why for each BWB there is

  • one manifest listing all consolidations/versions
schema)
  • one wti, wettechnische informatie, listing relations
e.g. related laws, when changes were posted in the Staatsblad (verify)
schema
  • one or more toestand files that are law text, the most recent one being the most relevant
schema



SRU searches give one result record for each toestand/revision

for which the manifest and wti are identical(verify)
which in terms of metadata only really vary in when it is valid

For example, BWBR0045754 (Wet open overheid, Woo) [38] gives two results, the same variants reflected in its manifest; BWBR0035917 (Wet langdurige zorg) has over twenty revisions [39]; BWBR0005290 (Book 7 of the civil code) has over a hundred and sixty [40].

Note also that the manifest or WTI do not give an URL for the toestand XML - the search results themselves do.


For a sense of size

Most manifests are on the order of a few hundred KByte at most
Simple WTIs are 10KB, the more complex are mostly up to 3MB, with a few in the tens of MByte
Most toestand files are under 100 or 200KB, with a few at a megabyte or two or ten

As total collection, this amounts to

2.5GByte in current toestand XMLs, about 47GByte in old versions of toestand XMLs(verify).
3.5Gbyte in WTI XMLs
100MByte in XML manifests
BWB XML notes

WTI XML notes

  • algemene-informatie
citeertitel,
rechtsgebied(en) (e.g. Ruimtelijke ordening en milieu - Milieurecht), overheidsdomein (e.g. Landbouw, natuur en voedsel)
soort regeling (bijv. 'wet'), identificatienummer (BWB)
  • wijzigingen
  • gerelateerde-regelgeving
bijv. regelgeving die op deze regeling is gebaseerd (gedelegeerde regelgeving)
  • owms (Overheid.nl Web Metadata Standaard)
https://standaarden.overheid.nl/owms/terms
mostly dublin core?

voorbeeld (data): https://repository.officiele-overheidspublicaties.nl/bwb/BWBR0035917/BWBR0035917.WTI

voorbeeld (geformatteerd): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0035917/2022-07-01/0/informatie


Manifest XML notes

TODO


Toestand XML notes

The constant-looking, Schema'd wrapping is: toestand

  • attributes
    • inwerkingtreding (optional)
    • bwb-id
    • bwb-ng-vast-deel
  • subelements
    • bwb-inputbestand (required but may be empty)
    • bwb-wijzigingen (required but may be empty)
    • redactionele-correcties (optional)
    • wetgeving
      • intitule
      • citeertitel
      • (general content root)
      • meta-data


Notes:

  • intitule tends to be more descriptive, citeertitel more succinct
  • The name of that general content root tag mentioned above is not always the same (usually
    <wet-besluit>
    , but also
    <regeling>
    or
    <circulaire>
    due to context)
Some of them basically set by
soort
, others correlating more loosely (e.g. rijksKB seems to exist with both wet-besluit and regeling)
  • The structure under that is also varied - the content text is mostly in
    <artikel>
    tags, but the levels between the content root and artikel tags may apparently be any of at least 
wet-besluit/wettekst
wet-besluit/wettekst/paragraaf
wet-besluit/wettekst/hoofdstuk/titeldeel
wet-besluit/wettekst/afdeling
wet-besluit/wettekst/titeldeel
wet-besluit/wettekst/afdeling/paragraaf
wet-besluit/wettekst/hoofdstuk
wet-besluit/wettekst/hoofdstuk/titeldeel
wet-besluit/wettekst/hoofdstuk/paragraaf
wet-besluit/wettekst/regeling/regeling-tekst
wet-besluit/wettekst/deel/hoofdstuk/afdeling
wet-besluit/wettekst/deel/hoofdstuk/afdeling/paragraaf
...again with only moderate correlation to
soort



Small entries


There are a good amount of entries (mostly in wet, AMvB, also in KB, regeling, reglement) that are not very contentful or standalone.

  • most common are modifications of laws - wijzigingswet or practical variant of the concept
often with a name (intitule) including wijzigingswet, veegwet, herzieningswet, aanpassingswet, intrekkingswet, verzamelwet, etc. (doesn't seem mentioned in the metadata? at least not explicitly(verify))
these may have very little text, other than mentioning that they modify another - and may not mention what final form that other law takes. As such, the laws they modify will often get a new consolidated version of its text(verify)
and depending on your goals, these modifying ones can be seen as a formality rather than useful content
they may not have a citeertitel(verify)
e.g. BWBR0012984, BWBR0013009
  • there are some other very short laws, e.g. to settle something more precisely, add exceptions - and these seem to be considered standalone augmentations, not things to be consolidated into the law they augment(verify)
e.g. BWBR0016470, BWBR0017076, BWBR0017533
or e.g. BWBR0014295 which seems to just say "permits as meant by BWBR0013889 should be done via a form, and look in the Staatscourant for the actual form we're talking about"
  • and some things that are arguably inbetween, like Goedkeuringsbesluiten
e.g. BWBR0017028, BWBR0017276
CVDR

What: Centrale Voorziening Decentrale Regelgeving seems to be the data equivalent of lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl(verify), a central store for such local, decentralized regulations

Accessible via: SRU

In formats: XML, HTML

Each search result groups: XML data, and HTML

Identifiers used: CVDR-id, seems defined in JCDR(verify)

There are references to BWB,


There currently seem to be approximately 85k regulations (approximately 310k documents if you include all versions).


Standard metadata fields are declared to be:

  • identifier - CVDR-ID (including version number)
  • title
  • alternative (...title)
there can be multiple. Present on most but not all records.
seems to often be the same as title(verify)
  • subject
there can be multiple. Present on most but not all records.
apparently a smallish controlled keyword set, including e.g. 'bestuur en recht', 'financiën en economie', 'maatschappelijke zorg en welzijn', 'openbare orde en veiligheid', 'ruimtelijke ordening, verkeer en vervoer', 'milieu', 'volkshuisvesting en woningbouw', onderwijs', 'personeel en organisatie'm 'algemeen'
  • creator
specifically named gemeentes, waterschappen, omgevingsdiensten, etc.
the scheme attribute mentions what kind it is
  • publisher (Uitgever)
  • source (Bron / Oorsprong)
there can be multiple
seems to be the law this regulation is applying(verify) (grondslag of bevoegdheid)
Seems to often refer to something general like the Gemeentewet, Provinciewet, but sometimes more specific things (e.g. Algemene wet bestuursrecht, Archiefwet, Winkeltijdenwet, Participatiewet, Wet op het primair onderwijs, Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning, Ambtenarenwet, Wet algemene bepalingen omgevingsrecht, Wet ruimtelijke ordening, etc.)
the resourceIdentifier attribute is a URL, the node text is a description
seems a little free-form


  • issued (Uitgiftedatum)
there can be multiple
  • modified (Wijzigingsdatum)
  • isRatifiedBy (Beslisser)
there can be multiple
seems a smallish controlled keyword set, including values like 'gemeenteraad', 'college van burgemeester en wethouders', 'algemeen bestuur', 'dagelijks bestuur', 'burgemeester', 'gemandateerde functionaris', 'gedeputeerde staten', 'geattribueerde functionaris', 'gedelegeerde functionaris', 'heffingsambtenaar', 'provinciale staten', 'invorderingsambtenaar', 'dijkgraaf', 'deelraad'
the scheme attribute mentions what kind it is
  • isFormatOf - seems to refer to the the place it was published (isFormatOf pointing out that this is a (non-authoritative?(verify)) copy of the same information)
there can be multiple. Present on most but not all records.
mostly specific Gmb, Prb, Bgr, Wsb references, but also includes local newsletters, and a number of unknowns and not-applicables
seems to also be filled in somewhat free-form
the resourceIdentifier attribute is a URL, the node text is a description


  • language - seems to just be 'nl'?(verify)
  • rights - seems to just be the text 'De tekst in dit document is vrij van auteursrecht en databankrecht'(verify)
Present on most but not all records.
  • format - actually seems unused?(verify)
  • type (apparently always 'regeling')
the scheme attribute mentions what kind it is


But there's a bunch more in the database - that are only present on a subset of records - including:

  • spatial - where it applies (often the same as creator?)
  • betreft
  • onderwerp
  • kenmerk
  • externeBijlage
  • redactioneleToevoeging
  • gedelegeerdeRegelgeving
  • uitwerkingtredingDatum
  • terugwerkendekrachtDatum
  • license (rare)


See also:

(the webservice it mentions seems to not exist anymore?)
Officiele Publicaties

What: Officiele publicaties / officiele bekendmakingen groups Gemeenteblad, Provinciaal blad, Waterschapsblad, Staatscourant, Staatsblad (and Tractatenblad?)

(by count, most documents are gemeeteblad)

Accessible via: SRU

Search results:

Identifiers used:


Locale bekendmakingen

What:

Accessible via: SRU

Search results: metadata XML, HTML

Identifiers used: (some hash?)

Tuchtrecht

What:

Accessible via: SRU

Search results: document in XML and PDF formats

Identifiers used: ECLI (also LJN, Zaaknummber)

Samenwerkende catalogi

What: Mentioned to be an index of products and services and agreements

Accessible via: SRU

Search results: XML only

Identifiers used:


Note: x-connection seems to not be enough, you have to add
c.product_area=='samenwerkendecatalogi'

to the query or you will get contents of other repositories as well (verify)


https://repository.overheid.nl/frbr/samenwerkendecatalogi

https://www.logius.nl/diensten/samenwerkende-catalogi/wat-is-het

https://www.logius.nl/diensten/samenwerkende-catalogi/documentatie/informatie-publicatie-model

https://data.overheid.nl/en/dataset/samenwerkende-catalogi-producten-en-diensten#owner

https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/overzicht-van-alle-onderwerpen/dienstverlening-aan-burgers-en-ondernemers/samenwerkende-catalogi/

https://www.logius.nl/diensten/samenwerkende-catalogi

https://standaarden.overheid.nl/sc


Statengeneraal digitaal

What: Parliamentary documents, which are also part of officiele bekendmakingen?

Accessible via: SRU

In formats:

Each search result groups:

Identifiers used:


Note: x-connection seems to not be enough, you have to add
c.product_area=='sgd'
to the query or you will get contents of other repositories as well (verify)


https://www.staten-generaal.nl/begrip/staten_generaal_digitaal

http://www.statengeneraaldigitaal.nl/ (forwards to https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/uitgebreidzoeken/historisch )

Verdragenbank

What: Treaties where the Netherlands is involved

Accessible via: SRU

In formats:

Each search result groups:

Identifiers used:


https://verdragenbank.overheid.nl/

PLOOI

What: PLatform Open OverheidsInformatie (PLOOI) - unsure. (most descriptions I can find are vague - "publieke informatie", "digitale infrastructuur”).

the text at https://open.overheid.nl/ suggests it is (currently?) limited to "gemeenten, provincies, waterschappen en de rijksoverheid"
and that it will eventually include everything ("uiteindelijk alle overheidsdocumenten op één plek vindbaar te maken")
In theory the/a execution of Wet open overheid?
Online mid-2022, but development was halted late 2022, to be redesigned
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/kamerstukken/2022/12/23/kamerbrief-met-reactie-op-advies-over-platform-open-overheidsinformatie
https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/nieuws/plooi-gaat-verder-in-eenvoudigere-variant/
https://www.koopoverheid.nl/voor-overheden/rijksoverheid/plooi-platform-open-overheidsinformatie
Also, https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/kabinetsbeleid-digitalisering/werkagenda/waardengedreven-en-open-digitale-overheid/verbeteren-informatiehuishouding-voor-openbaarheid-van-bestuur-2/acties-prioriteit-4-1/
Currently seems to be to be a union of certain other collections? Seemingly including some officielepublicaties, and various other things I can't place yet (though this might be an SRU bug?)


Accessible via: SRU (verify)

I've not found documentation for what the fields are, though

Document formats: PDF, more?(verify)

Each search result groups:

Identifers used: (its own, hash-based?)(verify)



https://open.overheid.nl/

https://www.koopoverheid.nl/voor-overheden/gemeenten-provincies-en-waterschappen/plooi

https://www.koopoverheid.nl/voor-overheden/rijksoverheid/plooi-platform-open-overheidsinformatie

Europese richtlijnen

What:

Accessible via: SRU

In formats:

Each search result groups:

Identifiers used:

PUC Open Data

What:

Accessible via: SRU

In formats:

Each search result groups:

Identifiers used:


See PUC above

https://puc.overheid.nl/

Wetgevingskalender

What: Information about new national laws (and treaties) - data form of wetgevingskalender.overheid.nl

Accessible via: SRU


Staatsalmanak

What:

Accessible via: SRU

In formats:

Each search result groups:

Identifiers used:

Tweede Kamer Open Data

What:

Available via: Atom-style API[41], and an OData API

In formats: XML, JSON

Each search result groups: what you asked, according to a fairly involved information model

Identifiers used:


https://opendata.tweedekamer.nl/


You might be interested in openkamer.org, a project that seems to be built on this (and also fetches from zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl and www.parlement.com)

(unsorted, potential data resources)

DROP
Linked Data Overheid (LiDO)

Seems to be a search index of a union of sources[42]:

  • Wetten.overheid.nl
  • Officielebekendmakingen.nl
  • Rechtspraak.nl
  • EUR-Lex
  • HUDOC
  • Publicatieplatform UitvoeringsContent (PUC)
  • Antwoord voor Bedrijven


...but it's unclear to me what sort of searches - beyond identifiers - are supposed to give results.

Some searches are nicely fuzzy and flexible, breeding expectations of others that generally just won't work.


https://linkeddata.overheid.nl/front/portal/lab-callback



See also:

Platform Linked Data Nederland (PLDN)

Note very maintained - seems to have a good number of dead links?


https://www.pldn.nl/wiki/Platform_Linked_Data_Nederland


Some notes on structure

Kamerstukken, dossiers

A kamerstuk is a document meant for exchange between parliament and government. (By law, kamerstukken should be public and preferably digital)

This includes reports, letters, law proposals, and various other things.


Notes:

  • It sometimes matters that on overheid.nl the data model splits kamerstukken into a regular Kamerstuk and a Bijlage ('appendix'), so Kamerstuk exists both in a broad sense of either, and the specific sense of '...that is not an appendix'.


https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamerstuk



Kamerstukdossiers (a.k.a. dossiers, kamerdossiers) are a collection of Kamerstukken about a topic.

They have unique identifiers (Kamerstuknummer, dossiernummer, or vetnummer), which are roughly sequential but with some special cases like the national budget.


This includes things like

  • law proposals and changes (e.g. (meta docs))
  • budgets
  • a number of wider and longer term ones sometimes with thousands of documents (e.g. Belastingdienst (meta docs), Jeugdzorg (meta docs), Kinderopvang (meta docs), Air quality (meta docs),
  • and/or fairly specific ones, reaction to a Queen's day incident (meta docs), Parking (meta docs), some effects of the EHEC bacteria(meta docs), formalities around a state-owned casino[43] (meta docs), waiting times in healthcare (meta docs), etc.


Notes:

  • There seems to be no categorization(verify), to e.g. select just law proposals/changes
but there are other ways, like the title, and that the first document in those always seem to be a Koninklijke boodschap
  • A kamerstuk can be part of multiple dossiers, and the reference to that kamerstuk can be slightly less than obvious.
  • There are on the order of 150k kamerstukken(verify), sorted into 6000+ dossiers(verify).


https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamerstuk

https://opendata.tweedekamer.nl/documentatie/kamerstukdossier

Wetsvoorstellen

This article/section is a stub — probably a pile of half-sorted notes, is not well-checked so may have incorrect bits. (Feel free to ignore, or tell me)

Existing projects

openkamer.org

Fairly clearly based on #Tweede_Kamer_Open_Data and a little more

Makes a much more browseable, usable interface.

See also:


wetzoek.nl

Fuzzier semantic-ish searching, allowing more natural queries to give reasonable results

https://wetzoek.nl/

Related

Gemeentes

Gemeente is the Dutch word for municipality.

There have been around 1000 in the past, but reorganisation and mergers, particularly since the 1960, have reduced that to 344 as of 2022.

See also


...plus three special cases: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba [44] which are special municipality of the Netherlands.

these are part of the Caribbean Netherlands, but not of the European Netherlands which many people default to intending to mean.

(whereas Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are constituent countries of the kingdom of the Netherlands but not the country of the Netherlands, so not part of this list[45])


There also used to be deelgemeentes, allowing municipalities to separate some parts of their operation for parts of their region. Only Amsterdam and Rotterdam did this.

Deelgemeentes (and plusregios) were eliminated in 2014 to reduce the amount of layering in government, though some reduced implementations of both concepts remain.

See also

Processing

FLINT and CALCULEMUS

See also:

Hohfeld’s legal concepts

See also:

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