Government & open data
Interprovinciaal Overleg (IPO)
The Association of Provincial Authorities (IPO) is an association of, for and by the provinces: all twelve provinces are members, represented through their provincial councils and executives. The IPO represents shared interests towards central government and the European institutions, provides a platform for knowledge exchange between provinces, and coordinates on supra-regional issues. What it publishes are positions, responses to national policy and thematic files on nitrogen, housing, accessibility, energy and digitalisation, among others.
Go to the publisher’s websiteWhich products consult this source
BEVER — Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
IRMA — Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
Availability depends on your organisation’s configuration and access rights.
What this source does not give you
The IPO is not a public-law administrative body and cannot bind provinces to formal decisions. Formal decision-making rests with the provincial council and executive of each individual province. Provincial regulation, permits and decisions are therefore not found at the IPO but at the province itself and in the official publications.
Frequently asked questions
- Can the IPO take decisions on behalf of the provinces?
- No. The IPO is an association, not a public-law administrative body; formal powers rest with the twelve provinces themselves. An IPO position is therefore a joint administrative stance, not a decision with legal effect for citizens or businesses. Anyone wanting to know what applies in a province must go to that province.
- How is the IPO organised?
- The general assembly has twenty-four members, two per province drawn from the provincial councils, and deals with the association itself, including the budget and the agenda. The board has twelve members, one provincial executive per province, with an independent chair. Beneath that sit thematic administrative advisory committees and a circle of provincial secretaries. The office in The Hague has around fifty staff; in Brussels representation runs through the House of the Dutch Provinces, established in 2000.
- What is an IPO position useful for in legal work?
- As context and as a record of the administrative line. A joint response from the twelve provinces to a bill, a policy assessment or a government decision shows what problem the implementing side sees and which direction the provinces want. That is useful in interpretation, in negotiations and in gauging what policy is coming. It does not produce a norm against which a court will test.
- Where do I find provincial decisions and regulation, then?
- At the province itself. Adopted by-laws and decisions are announced in the official publications and can be found through the central facility for decentralised regulation; the meeting documents of the provincial council are in that province's own council information system. The IPO does not make those documents available.
- Does the IPO also represent the provinces in Brussels?
- Yes, representing interests towards the European institutions is one of its core tasks, alongside lobbying towards central government. This runs through the House of the Dutch Provinces in Brussels, established in 2000. There too, the IPO puts forward positions rather than exercising powers.