Open State Foundation calls for transparency on government performance
To enable voters to make an informed choice, the government and parliament must make data available for anyone to hold government to account. This is essential … Read more
News archive
With your privacy, the government knows where to hide
The relationship between privacy and transparency is complex. Privacy is often wrongly used by governments to prevent transparency. This is a problem because without access to … Read more
Presentation: The future of reuse of government information
How does the future for the reuse of government information and archives look like? On October 6, 2016, during an inspiration session, Open State Foundation and … Read more
Game with government data winner first Dutch Accountability Hack
English translation follows soon. Een app waarmee mensen hun kennis over geldstromen van de overheid kunnen testen is als beste uit de bus gekomen tijdens de … Read more
Consumers can reveal secret hospital prices themselves
Since there is an inadequate response from healths insurers, hospitals and the Netherlands Healthcare Authority (NZa) on previous calls by the Dutch Consumers’ Association and Open … Read more
Open 3D Culture is coming to the Netherlands
As part of the Tandem project Open State Foundation and Italian based Virtutim are exploring the possibilities for Open 3D Culture. For our background research we … Read more
One in ten Dutch government agencies report open datasets to central portal
Less than a tenth of all government agencies reports open datasets via the Dutch government’s central open data portal data.overheid.nl. Out of 1,069 government organisations only … Read more
Can Italy open up culture?
Italy is on the verge of opening up their cultural data. However current laws create many challenges. As part of our Tandem-project the Open State Foundation … Read more
Dutch Food Safety Authority rejects reuse inspection data on lunchrooms
Seven months after a request by Open State Foundation for the reuse of inspection results of lunchrooms, today the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority … Read more
Notification Registry of Dutch Data Protection Authority as open data
From today the Dutch Data Protection Authority started to publish its Notification Registry as open data. On June 9, Open State Foundation did a request for … Read more
Law offers enough room for NZa to deliver transparency on health costs
NZa can do more for transparency than it actual does The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) has enough room to enforce transparency of healthcare costs but has … Read more
Dutch TenderNed opens procurement as open data
After TenderNed started in March 2016 with publishing Dutch open contracting data the data didn’t include the names of companies awarded and the amounts. As of … Read more
Minister of Economic Affairs announces first step open company register
Minister Kamp of Economic Affairs wants the Chamber of Commerce to publish a subset of the Dutch company register as open data. The minister of Economic … Read more
Risk profiles child care locations Amsterdam
This map shows the risk profiles of child care locations in Amsterdam. In the window you can jump to inspection reports by the public health agency … Read more
Accountability Hack on the eve of Prince’s day
On the eve of Prince’s Day (Budget Day), for the first time in the Netherlands, Accountability Hack will take place. During this hackathon government spending and … Read more
Open State joins #KeepItOn campaign to fight internet shutdowns
Open State Foundation joined nearly 70 organizations from five continents in launching the #KeepitOn campaign to fight internet shutdowns worldwide. The full list of organizations is available … Read more
TransparencyCamp Europe set to lift lid on EU decision-making
This week’s TransparencyCamp Europe is set to welcome nearly 400 open government supporters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This ‘unconference’ brings together government officials, developers and technologists, … Read more
Almost billion euro less subsidies Dutch gov ministries in 2015
In 2015, ministries have provided nearly one billion euro fewer subsidies than in 2014. The number of grants has almost halved compared to 2014 and below … Read more
Politwoops makes progress in Latin America and Asia
Politwoops, an archive of public tweets, deleted by politicians has been launched in several additional countries in Latin America. From today, deleted tweets by politicians in … Read more
Expunction penalty sum too soon, while governments fail to implement law
Next week, the Dutch parliament will consider a proposal to expunge a penalty on governments when they fail to take decisions on FOIA and re-use of … Read more
Chamber of Commerce asked to investigate open data by itself
Internal emails from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce show that the Chamber of Commerce itself has been specifically asked to do research on the publication of … Read more
Dutch transparency bill passes first vote
Today, Dutch parliament voted in favor of the new transparency bill (the Law on Open Government). This law, which paves the way for active transparency and … Read more
Costs Dutch company register only half of total expenses Chamber of Commerce
The costs the Dutch Chamber of Commerce makes to maintain and develop the Dutch company register are only half of the total expenses the Chamber of … Read more
Coalition of 37 civic organizations and journalists asks Dutch parliament to pass new transparency bill
A broad coalition of civic organizations and journalists call upon the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament to support the Open Government Bill. In an open letter, … Read more
Transparency Dutch company register leaves much to be desired
With a FOIA request Open State Foundation has asked the Dutch Chamber of Commerce full access to financial information on the costs and benefits of the … Read more
Municipal midterms: four tips for the latter half
This week we mark the midterm of the municipal elections of 2014. Consider this a good time to take stock. Open State Foundation has made all … Read more
Dutch e-procurement agency starts publishing tenders and contracts as open data
As of March 16, 2016 TenderNed, the Dutch e-procurement agency publishes tenders and public procurement as open data. TenderNed just published a first dataset with announcement … Read more
Five Dutch municipalities release detailed openspending data
Today the detailed income and expenditure of Dutch cities Dordrecht, Heerlen, Lelystad, Oirschot and Utrecht are published online. Detailed information from upkeep and maintenance costs of bicycle … Read more
Open State opens blackbox of common government arrangements
Common arrangements, partnerships between governments, there are many types and sizes in the Netherlands. These legal arangements are used to organise waste treatment, employment or safety. … Read more
Minister of Finance should go for real transparency in corporate ownership
A register of corporate ownership that is accessible to all would help combat crime. But the Dutch proposal – a registry behind a paywall and limited … Read more
Dutch governments not ready for ‘re-use of information requests’
In 2013 the European Union published Directive 2013/37/EU on the re-use of public sector information. In June 2015 this Directive was implemented as a Dutch law called the ‘Law for … Read more
Introducing Politwoops for the Irish Election
Today, Storyful, in partnership with the Open State Foundation, announced Politwoops for the Irish elections. Politwoops records, stores, and publishes tweets deleted by candidates. The tool has been used effectively in many countries across the world to increase transparency and accountability.
Five tips for the government’s research into open companies register
In November 2015, the Dutch parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to back a resolution that asks economic affairs minister Henk Kamp to investigate an open companies register. In a blogpost we described five tips for the government’s researchers to take into account.
Make your own lists with Openspending
All 2016 budgets of Dutch municipalities and provinces are now available on Openspending. And because we love lists we are launching the Openspending listmaker openspendinglijstjes.nl today.
TransparencyCamp Europe comes to Amsterdam
Developers, government officials, journalists and activists from all over Europe will shine their light on EU decision making and open government as TransparencyCamp Europe comes to … Read more
First Openspending Detaildata available from Groningen
The province and the municipality of Groningen made an important step towards more financial transparency. As of now their detailed financial information can be found on … Read more
OVfietsuitje.nl winner of Hacking for Sustainability app-competition
Ovfietsuitje.nl, an app that allows people to take a public transport bicycle and find interesting places in the Netherlands and plan a bike trip around its … Read more
Agreement with Twitter allows Politwoops to publish deleted tweets by politicians
Today, Twitter agreed to restore Politwoops access to its API. An agreement has been reached with Twitter that allows Open State Foundation to publish deleted tweets … Read more
New information in appeal on open health data
Open State Foundation has brought the case for open health data to the administrative jurisdiction division of the Council of State, the highest general administrative court … Read more
Majority Dutch parliament asks minister to investigate opening up trade register as open data
The Dutch parliament voted by an overwhelming majority today to back a resolution that asks economic affairs minister Henk Kamp to investigate turning the trade register … Read more
First five Dutch municipalities release meetings, agenda’s as open data
In the Netherlands a first step is made with open data of municipalities to better understand the functioning of local democracy. With releasing meetings, agenda’s and … Read more
Available data Dutch public broadcasting extended with thousands of items
The API of the Dutch Public Broadcasting is now extended with thousands of items, program information and subtitles of Schooltv. On 14 November, a hackathon takes … Read more
Transparency healthcosts refused
The district court of Amsterdam ruled today that the Netherlands Health Authority could keep secret all information related to declared health costs and tarifs of health … Read more
Hackingforsustainability: App competition with natural capital data
What innovative and creative applications are possible with data about our natural capital? The term covers all the services provided to us by nature. It puts … Read more
Twitter apologizes to developers and mentions Politwoops
‘We have a responsibility to continue to power organizations who want to bring transparency like Politwoops,’ said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, at the company’s second … Read more
Openspending: from one district to an entire country
In 2013 the Open State Foundation started Openspending by releasing the finances of one of the districts of Amsterdam. This week our work resulted in the … Read more
App “Nuse” wins the NPO Backstage app competition
Nuse, a research app for journalists is the winner of the NPO Backstage app competition. Open State organized this competition commissioned by the Dutch Public Broadcasting … Read more
NPO Backstage: developing apps with Public Broadcasting data
Which innovative and creative applications can be developed with Public Broadcasting data? NPO Backstage challenges developers to answer this question. Open State Foundation organizes an app … Read more
Right To Know Day 2015
To mark the Right to Know Day in the Netherlands a meetup will be held on 28 September 2015 at the Library of The Hague.
Open State calls on government to open companies trade register
In a letter to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Open State Foundation calls on the government to open the trade and companies register. It also … Read more