Ombi la Woo nchini Uholanzi: jinsi ya kupata taarifa za serikali

A Woo request (Woo-verzoek) is a request under the Dutch Open Government Act (Wet open overheid, Woo) for information held by a public body; anyone can make one, without stating an interest (Article 4.1 Woo). The body must decide within four weeks, extendable once by two weeks, but the main exception is that information is withheld where an absolute ground applies, such as business data supplied in confidence, or where a relative ground outweighs the interest in disclosure (Article 5.1 Woo).

Since 1 May 2022 the Woo has replaced the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Wob). A late decision no longer triggers an automatic penalty payment (Article 8.2 Woo); you have to use the court route instead.

What is the Open Government Act?

The Woo is the Dutch freedom-of-information statute. Its starting point is that everyone has a right of access to public information, subject only to the limits in the Act itself; refusal is the exception and must be reasoned.

Chapter 3 governs publication on the body’s own initiative, chapter 4 disclosure on request, and chapter 5 the exceptions. A decision on a Woo request is an administrative decision under the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht, Awb), with the usual objection and appeal. Every body must designate one or more contact persons who answer questions about what information it holds (Article 4.7 Woo); a short call before filing often tells you what exists.

Who can make a Woo request, and to which bodies?

Anyone: Article 4.1 Woo sets no nationality or residence requirement, and you need not explain why you want the information (Article 4.1(3) Woo). Foreign companies, journalists and NGOs have the same right as Dutch residents.

Because disclosure under the Woo is disclosure to everyone, your identity and motive are in principle irrelevant; a request made by an adviser is just as strong. It also means a competitor may be behind a request about you. The Woo covers administrative bodies, such as ministries, provinces, municipalities, water boards and regulators, and certain other institutions listed in the Act. It does not cover courts in their judicial function or purely private parties, although documents a private party sent to a body and that the body holds are within reach.

What can you request?

Information recorded in documents that the body holds: letters, emails, memos, spreadsheets, messages in apps used for the public task, databases and recordings. The body does not have to create new information, compile figures or answer questions.

So phrase your request as a search for records (“all inspection reports on site X in 2024 and 2025”), not as a question (“how many inspections were carried out?”). Once a request is received, the body must safeguard the preservation of the documents it covers (Article 4.1a Woo).

How do you make an effective Woo request?

A request can be made orally or in writing, and electronically in the way the body indicates (Article 4.1(2) Woo). You state the subject or the document you want; if the request is too general, the body must ask you within two weeks to specify it and help you do so (Article 4.1(5) Woo).

• Name a subject, not one document. A request for “the memo of 4 March” fails if it is dated 5 March. Ask for all information on a defined subject and list the document types you expect.
• Bainisha kipindi. An open-ended request is the most common cause of delay.
• Taja majina ya waigizaji. Department, project, file or permit number and counterparties narrow the search.
• Do not ask for too much. For a well-specified but very large request, the body must consult you on priorities before the deadline (Article 4.2a Woo). Start narrow; you can file again.
• Uliza fomu unayotaka (Article 4.5 Woo): searchable files and an inventory listing each document with the ground for any refusal.

How long does the body have to decide?

Four weeks from the day after receipt, extendable once by at most two weeks if the size or complexity of the information justifies it (Article 4.4(1) and (2) Woo). The extension must be notified in writing with reasons before the first period ends.

The period is suspended while third parties are asked for their views (Article 4.4(3) Woo), which in commercial files often takes several weeks. In practice large or sensitive requests regularly run beyond six weeks.

What can you do if the body decides late?

Because Article 8.2 Woo switched off the automatic penalty payment, waiting achieves nothing. Send a written notice of default (ingebrekestelling); two weeks later you can appeal directly to the district court against the failure to decide (Article 6:12 Awb), without an utaratibu wa pingamizi kwanza.

If the appeal succeeds, the court sets a period within which the body must still decide; for large requests it can set a longer period than usual (Article 8.4 Woo). The court can attach a penalty payment for further delay, but you must ask for it.

On which grounds can the body refuse?

Article 5.1 Woo has two categories. Absolute grounds involve no balancing: if they apply, the information stays closed; relative grounds require the body to weigh the public interest in disclosure against the protected interest, and a refusal on a relative ground must be expressly reasoned (Article 5.1(3) Woo).

In exceptional cases information other than environmental information can also be withheld if disclosure would cause disproportionate harm to an interest not listed (Article 5.1(5) Woo). This residual ground is narrow, not a catch-all.

Which grounds matter for companies?

• Business data supplied in confidence is the strongest protection, because it is absolute. It is read narrowly: data from which conclusions can be drawn about technical operations, production, distribution, turnover or profit, supplied with a real expectation of confidentiality. Other competitively sensitive data is only a relative ground.
• Personal policy views in documents for internal deliberation are withheld (Article 5.2 Woo). Facts, forecasts, policy alternatives and other mainly objective parts are not policy views and must be released; views can be released in a form that cannot be traced to persons.
• Age of the information. For information older than five years, the body must explain why the protected interests still outweigh disclosure despite the passage of time (Article 5.3 Woo).

The exceptions apply “in so far as” disclosure harms the interest: per passage, not per document. A body may not withhold a hundred-page report because two paragraphs are sensitive; it must release the rest and state the ground for each redaction.

What does a Woo request cost?

Nothing. Disclosure under the Woo is free (Article 8.6(1) Woo). A body may charge a reasonable fee for copies, capped at the cost price of the data carriers; it may not charge for searching or redacting.

Court fees apply if you appeal. Under the anti-abuse provision of Article 4.6 Woo, a body may refuse to handle a request within two weeks if the requester evidently has a purpose other than obtaining public information; the threshold is high, and an unwelcome question is not abuse.

How do you object and appeal?

You object to the body within six weeks after the decision is announced, then appeal to the district court within six weeks after the decision on objection, and further to the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (Raad van State). These six-week periods follow from Article 6:7 Awb.

A partial refusal is a starting point: the objection procedure is free, and the decision on objection is usually better reasoned. In urgent cases you can ask the interim relief judge (voorzieningenrechter) for a provisional measure alongside the objection or appeal.

What should you check as the requester?

• Check what is already published and call the contact person under Article 4.7 Woo before filing.
• Define subject, period, department and counterparties.
• Ask for an inventory and the ground for each redaction.
• Diarise the four- and six-week dates and send a notice of default as soon as the period expires.
• Object within six weeks to a refusal you think is wrong.

What should you check as a company whose information may be disclosed?

• Respond to the invitation to give your view (zienswijze) under Article 4:8 Awb; this is when the body forms its position.
• Be specific: identify each passage, the ground that applies and the concrete commercial harm, and offer a redacted version.
• Note the date: where the body expects an objection, it releases the information only two weeks after announcing the decision (Article 4.4(5) Woo).
• Within those two weeks, object and apply for interim relief; the application suspends disclosure until the judge rules.
• Mark confidential business data as such when you supply it to a public body, and keep it separate from general correspondence.

Once documents are released they are public for everyone, and no appeal undoes that. This also affects material that qualifies as a Siri ya biashara.

What can we do for you with a Woo request?

Utawala mawakili wa sheria za utawala act for requesters and for companies whose information is at stake.

• We draft a precisely scoped Woo request and file it with the right body.
• We send the notice of default and appeal to the district court if the body decides late.
• We draft the objection and appeal against a (partial) refusal.
• We draft your view as a third party, passage by passage.
• We apply for interim relief within the two-week window to stop disclosure.

Muhtasari

• Anyone can make a Woo request, without stating an interest (Article 4.1 Woo).
• The body decides within four weeks, extendable once by two weeks (Article 4.4 Woo).
• There is no automatic penalty for late decisions; use the notice of default and the court route.
• Absolute grounds, such as confidential business data, block disclosure; relative grounds require balancing.
• Third parties have two weeks after a disclosure decision to object and seek interim relief.

Maswali yanayoulizwa mara kwa mara