News item | 15-04-2025 | 14:12
Participants in the public debate such as journalists, human rights organizations and researchers must be protected against strategic lawsuits intended to block their participation in the public debate. That is why European regulations have been drawn up to protect against so -called strategic lawsuits against public participation (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Partication, or: Slapps). State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken has submitted a bill to the Lower House with which the Dutch regulations are put in line with this.
State Secretary Struycken:
“The contribution of journalists, human rights organizations and scientists to the public debate, among others, is indispensable in a strong constitutional state. This contribution should not be impeded by long -term and expensive lawsuits. Participants in the public debate must be able to defend themselves against this, otherwise the serious consequence threatens that people will be silent about the possibilities of this legislation. in the public debate. ”
Anti-slapp guideline
The European Anti-Slapp Directive (2024/1069) obliges Member States of the European Union to take measures to better protect people and organizations participating in the public debate against cross-border lawsuits that are being filed with the aim of silencing them. The Directive includes procedural guarantees and measures against unfounded claims and unlawful legal proceedings in civil matters. Dutch civil (process) law already meets most measures from this directive, such as the possibility of rejecting a request as early as possible in proceedings and inadmissible. With the submitted implementation bill, the latest changes to comply with the directive are also introduced. The bill makes it possible for the defendant to ask the judge for a certainty of the claimant. With this security, the payment of the costs and compensation can be guaranteed in case the court ruled that the procedure is a slack.
The implementation law proposal was consulted and then submitted to the Council of State for advice. The Council of State has announced that it has no comments. Now it is up to the Lower House and then the Senate to handle the bill. The directive must have been converted into national legislation by 7 May 2026 at the latest.