Constitutional Reforms

In recent years, a number of proposed legislative reforms have touched on constitutional issues. Their topics included corrective referendums, online voting, open government, and fundamental rights. These proposals are now bills before the States General (the Dutch parliament).

The Constitution must be amended for some reforms to be introduced: the binding corrective referendum, for instance. This would enable ordinary citizens to initiate a public referendum in order to approve or reject a government decision or regulation. Provisions governing the consultative corrective referendum will be laid down in the Interim Referendum Act, which will not require amendment of the Constitution. In the first week of March 2000, the bill to amend the Constitution, the implementation bill based on it, and the Interim Referendum Bill were presented to the House of Representatives. In late January 2001, the House passed the three bills and they went on to the Senate.

Developments in information and communications technology (ICT) are also making it necessary to amend the Constitution. These developments have changed society drastically in the past few years. The use of e-mail has transformed communications, and the Internet creates opportunities unimaginable until recently. To investigate the implications of these developments for the Constitution, the Government set up the Franken Committee on Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age. The Franken Committee presented its final report in late May 2000. The report is a consultative document but Prof. Franken expects it to be the basis for an amendment to the Constitution.

Some acts must be amended to make them comply with the Constitution. The Government Information (Public Access) Act, for instance. In the light of the many new opportunities that ICT is providing for achieving the Act's objectives, its current text and scope are too narrow and do too little to encourage the use of ICT. The General Administrative Law Act must be amended to counter the excessive role of the courts in society. The Government has asked the Scheltema Committee on General Administrative Legislation for its recommendations.

Developments in ICT have also led to proposals to amend the Elections Act. An amendment will be necessary, for instance, to regulate the approval and use of voting machines. New voting methods, such as online voting, will also have to be examined. The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has set up an online voting project to study how ICT could be used to make elections simpler and more accessible. One question is whether the electorate will be able to vote online from home in the future.