Blogs

An increasing number of organisations are receiving requests from individuals seeking access to data. However, not all access requests are the same. Depending on the type of organisation and the data concerned, a request may be based on different laws, each with its own rules, deadlines and grounds for refusal. In this article, we discuss three types of access requests that we frequently encounter.

Can a municipality revoke the designation of a protected townscape to make way for housing development? According to the Dutch Council of State, it can, provided that the interests involved have been carefully balanced. A ruling concerning the Dreven neighbourhood in The Hague demonstrates when housing development and quality of life may outweigh the protection of cultural heritage.

Can an employer require employees to work from the office at least two days a week? The recent court ruling concerning Booking.com has sparked considerable debate. For many, the answer seems obvious: surely requiring two days of office attendance is entirely reasonable? Legally, however, the issue is more nuanced. When the works council (OR) refuses to consent to a proposed decision, the court must assess whether the employer’s interests outweigh those of the works council. And it is precisely this aspect of the ruling that raises questions. Just how convincing is the balancing of interests carried out by the subdistrict court?

As an employer, you can choose to bear the financial risks associated with sickness and incapacity for work of current and former employees yourself. This is known as self-insurance. This option can be financially attractive and gives you greater control over the reintegration of current and former employees. At the same time, self-insurance entails responsibilities and risks. What exactly does self-insurance for Sickness Benefits (Ziektewet) and WGA benefits involve? What are the advantages, and what pitfalls should employers be aware of? In this blog, we explain how self-insurance works and what you need to consider.

Three companies—Google, Amazon and Microsoft—together account for 70% of the European cloud market. European providers each hold a market share of approximately 2%. This is more than just a market statistic. It reflects a balance of power that directly affects who can, in practice, access the data held by Dutch public sector organisations and which laws govern that access. The Dutch government has decided that this needs to change. In a memorandum published in June 2026, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations’ NDS Cloud Programme explains how the government intends to build its own sovereign cloud service. The document is concrete in its approach, setting out a timeline, a selected scenario, a technical strategy and an honest acknowledgement of the challenges involved.

The Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (the “Enterprise Chamber”) delivered its ruling on 28 April 2026 in a case brought by the Temporary Works Council (the “TOR”) of the Identification and Screening of Asylum Seekers Service (Dienst Identificatie en Screening Asielzoekers, “DISA”) (ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2026:1105). The Enterprise Chamber ruled that the TOR had no right to be consulted on the decision to treat the reorganisations at DISA and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) as separate processes, without transferring personnel between them. According to the Enterprise Chamber, the decision concerned the allocation of public-law responsibilities between government services and therefore fell within the scope of the political primacy principle set out in Article 46d of the Dutch Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden, or WOR). Notably, however, the Enterprise Chamber described the decision-making process as “highly careless”. This finding did not lead to a different legal conclusion.

The government aims to provide greater certainty and clarity for self-employed professionals and their clients. To that end, on 1 October 2026, it submitted the draft Self-Employment Act (Zelfstandigenwet) for public consultation. The proposed Act seeks to answer a fundamental question: when can businesses engage self-employed professionals, and when can individuals work as self-employed professionals, with certainty that the relationship does not constitute employment? By establishing clear rules in advance, the government aims to create a safe harbour for those who meet and comply with these requirements. What exactly does the proposed Self-Employment Act entail, and what does it mean for businesses engaging self-employed professionals?

Anyone who has followed the media recently will have noticed the same debate recurring: should employees be required to come into the office more often? The term “camel hunting” regularly comes up in this context. Employers are seeking to avoid a working week with two distinct “humps”, characterised by busy Tuesdays and Thursdays and near-empty offices on the other days.

Standard terms and conditions are widely used in the construction industry, including the UAV 2012 and AVA 2013. These terms and conditions, along with many others, contain expiry periods.