Government & open data
Genootschap van Burgemeesters
The Netherlands Association of Mayors is the professional association of every mayor and administrator in the Kingdom. It represents their interests, provides training and publishes guidance on the office. Those publications are worth reading because they describe the mayoral toolkit from the practice of the person who applies it: when a power does and does not fit, what weighing precedes it, and how it relates to the role of the police and the public prosecution service in the local tripartite consultation.
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BEVER — Selected documents
A selected set of documents from this source is included and searchable.
Availability depends on your organisation’s configuration and access rights.
What this source does not give you
The association is a professional body, not an administrative authority and not a legislature: a guidance note or toolkit binds no one and can lag behind legislative change or recent case law. Part of the site is moreover restricted to members, and several publications date back years — check the publication date before relying on a passage about a power.
Frequently asked questions
- Which mayoral powers are covered here?
- The powers section covers the public-order toolkit in the Municipalities Act — article 172 (maintaining public order), 174 (supervision of gatherings), 174a (closing a dwelling), 175 and 176 (emergency orders and emergency by-laws), 176a (administrative detention) and 172b (orders to parents of under-twelves) — plus powers under specific statutes: article 13b of the Opium Act (closing drug premises), the temporary restraining order act, the act on tackling nuisance from residents, the football act, the public assemblies act, the public administration probity screening act, the public health act, the safety regions act, the compulsory mental health care act, the burial and cremation act, and the Police Act 2012.
- Which guidance documents are published, and by whom?
- The publications overview includes guidance on the integrity of political officeholders, guidance for mayors on appointment and reappointment, a toolkit for the local tripartite consultation, the studies on what polarises and what de-polarises and on understanding polarisation, research on leadership in crises, a volume on the crisis experiences of deputy mayors, and a survey of the state of the mayoral office. Not all of it is the association’s alone: the integrity guidance is a joint publication with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the association of municipalities, the association of provinces and the association of water authorities.
- How does the association characterise these powers in legal terms?
- It describes them as administrative-law powers that cannot be delegated, and stresses that proportionality and subsidiarity govern their use. That is precisely the axis along which such decisions fail on objection and appeal: not because the power was lacking, but because the chosen measure was too heavy-handed or a lighter alternative went unconsidered.
- What else is here besides publications?
- The site is built around four thematic lines — the office itself, public order and safety, powers, and local government — plus legal position and becoming a mayor, including the selection and application procedure. Alongside that sit the professional-development activities (some thirty courses a year, supplemented by conferences, round tables, coaching and e-learning), the association’s magazine, mind maps, an app and podcasts, and a section on appointments.