Government & open data
VNG
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) is the umbrella body of all Dutch municipalities. It publishes member letters to executives and councils, letters to cabinet and parliament, practice examples, guidance documents and — its best-known product — model by-laws, including the model general municipal ordinance (Model-APV). For implementation questions in social services, the physical domain and public order and safety, this is often the first place that records how municipalities have put a statute into practice.
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What this source does not give you
A model by-law is not law. It becomes binding in a municipality only once the municipal council adopts and publishes it, with or without amendments; until then it is a template. The same holds for guidance documents and member letters: they are advice from an association to its members, not legislation, not an administrative body's policy rules and not case law.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the model general municipal ordinance apply in my municipality?
- Only if your municipal council has adopted it, and then in the version the council adopted. The VNG updates the model periodically and informs municipalities by member letter, often with a before-and-after table and article-by-article explanation for the council debate. Municipalities may deviate, and do. What applies in your municipality is that municipality's published ordinance, not the model.
- What exactly is a VNG member letter?
- A letter from the VNG to the executives and councils of its member municipalities, explaining a legislative change, a model revision or an administrative agreement and setting out what municipalities need to do. The VNG separately publishes letters to the cabinet, letters to parliament and other letters; those are positions addressed to national government, not instructions to municipalities.
- Is VNG guidance binding on a municipality?
- No. Guidance describes a working method the VNG developed together with municipalities. It can carry real weight in practice and is often cited in decision-making, but an administrative body derives its powers from statute and from its own adopted policy — not from a guidance document.
- Which subject areas does this source cover?
- The full breadth of municipal implementation practice: social services (social support, youth care, participation, debt assistance), the physical domain and the rollout of the Environment Act, public order and safety including the general municipal ordinance and integrity screening, and corporate topics such as municipal finance, personnel, information security and freedom-of-information law.
- Why is the VNG a source for BEVER and IRMA, not for LEO?
- Because the material is written for municipal implementation and administrative decision-making, which is where BEVER and IRMA operate. A lawyer challenging a municipal decision needs the adopted ordinance and the statute, not the template.