Hooray, the Open Government Initiative Act (WOO) is finally in effect this month! Exactly ten years after the Council of State advised just to call off the whole operation. No clear improvement, this little plan by D66 and GroenLinks. It was too complicated, detailed, too legal and really no more generous than that wonderfully flexible Open Government Act. The Chamber persevered, with the exception of CDA, SGP and ChristenUnie who voted against. After ten years of debate, citizens now have a weapon.
In practice, the WOB was worn out – the decision times of departments are now 23 weeks on average. The law prescribes a maximum of two times four. With the recent low point being then Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge (CDA). This de facto temporarily suspended the WOB during corona time. A law that the government ignores is really broken.
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The overview in (and about) NRC provides numerous shocking examples of tactics used by governments to escape the WOB. From an in principle positive instrument, a basic ingredient in the administrative culture of a democratic constitutional state, the WOB became a source of frustration. Symbolized in piles of documents painted almost entirely in black, which were ‘released’ after sometimes months of waiting. At the same time, in the hands of some frustrated citizens, the WOB turned into a weapon for collecting fines, bullying local authorities and fighting private conflicts.
Seen in this way, the WOO is an opportunity for a fresh start. Whether the new law is better or not. It also gives the Netherlands the opportunity to better profile itself internationally as a transparently governed country. On the Global Right to Information Rating The Netherlands now scores a meager 82 out of 150 points. The Netherlands fell 22 places on the international monitor for press freedom this week. In addition to the increased insecurity for journalists, with the murder of Peter R. de Vries as sad evidence, the international openness of government judged to be weak also weighed negatively on this.
All things considered, the WOO looking pretty good. The maximum processing time will be reduced to four plus two weeks. Now that’s eight – and that turns out to be theory in practice. ‘Personal policy views’, a notorious category of refusal, will be more likely to be made public. There will be an obligation to actively disclose certain, specific government information, ie unsolicited. This will have major consequences for the ‘information management’ of government bodies, which is often insufficiently organised. And there will be a battle about which documents fall under that obligation and which do not.
That actually applies to the WOO as a whole – the battlefield is mainly being moved. The cat and mouse game of censorship, self-censorship, playing hide and seek between government and voter will not change as a result. ‘Personal’ policy views can also be prevented, App or SMS communication can be avoided, the ‘cloud’ is a perfect shelter for anonymous collaboration. The appeal of private mail will remain hard to resist for those who have to work in the political limelight. Just like the trusted post its. So not much will change. Publicity is also trust, in good government governance, in honest journalism and responsible politics. That cannot be stated by law. But for now it’s hurray for the WOO, subject to change. It’s settled on paper.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of May 5, 2022