Rules of Integrity

On this page, you will find information on the rules of integrity and the Code of Conduct for Members of the Dutch House of Representatives, as well as on the Board of Inquiry on Integrity.

Integrity

Society closely scrutinises the integrity of Members of the House of Representatives (MPs). First and foremost, it is the responsibility of every MP to carry out their office with integrity, for which they are ultimately accountable to the voters.

Code of Conduct

The rules of integrity MPs have to comply with are laid down in the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Dutch Constitution, the Ministers and Members of the States General (Swearing-In) Act, the Incompatibility of Office (States General and European Parliament) Act, the Remuneration (Members of the House of Representatives) Act and the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has also drawn up a code of conduct with rules of behaviour for MPs.

  1. MPs must exercise their duties independently and in terms of the public interest.
  2. MPs must not accept any gifts or favours intended to influence their actions or decisions in office.
  3. MPs must comply with the registration obligations imposed on them by the office.
  4. MPs must not use any information obtained in office for personal benefit and must safeguard the confidential nature of the information, if applicable.

Public registers (outside activities, gifts, foreign travel)

MPs must declare their outside activities and the income they expect to receive from these activities to maintain transparency about any interests apart from their work in the House. Gifts received by MPs and foreign travel wholly or partially paid for by third parties (other than the House itself) must also be registered. All registers can be consulted on the Dutch website openbare registers.

Income from outside activities

MPs are permitted to earn money in addition to their MP salaries but this is subject to certain rules. If an MP's secondary income is too high, the salary (remuneration) they receive as an MP can be reduced. MPs must declare their income to the Dutch Tax Administration, which will notify the MPs thereof. MPs expecting to earn a high secondary income in a fiscal year can ask the Secretary General of the House of Representatives to reduce the remuneration in advance. MPs are obliged to publish their secondary income.

Supervision: Integrity Investigation Board

The Regulations on the Monitoring and Enforcement of the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Representatives of the States-General came into force on 1 April 2021, establishing the Integrity Investigation Board. The Board is charged with handling reports of breaches of the Code of Conduct by MPs. Any EU citizen who believes that an MP has breached the Code can report this to the Board.

Examples of breaches of the Code of Conduct are accepting favours or gifts intended to influence actions or decisions in office, the use of information obtained in office for personal benefit, and failure to comply with the obligation to register outside activities and secondary income, gifts and foreign travel.

The Board will investigate the matter and may put a proposal before the House of Representatives to impose a sanction, such as to exclude an MP from taking part in debates (suspension). The House then votes on whether a sanction proposed by the Board should be imposed. All reports drawn up by the Board are made public.

Reporting a violation of the Code of Conduct

Use this form (in Dutch) to report an MP for a suspected breach of the Code of Conduct. Your report must meet the following requirements:

  • state your name and postal address;
  • report on the conduct of a Member of the House of Representatives;
  • state the date on which the conduct took place (the Board can only deal with reports about conduct that took place on or after 1 April 2021); and
  • a description of the facts leading to your report and why you think they constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct. You can attach documents as evidence.

You can also submit a report by post:

CAOP
Attn: College van onderzoek integriteit Tweede Kamer
Postbus 556
2501 CN Den Haag
NETHERLANDS

If you have any questions on this subject, please contact the secretariat at +31 70 318 55 59, Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 17:00.

The Board will assess whether your report meets the requirements and whether it will proceed with it. The Board will notify you thereof.

The Board cannot consider a report:

  • about persons other than MPs (such as ministers or state secretaries);
  • about political opinions;
  • about conduct already subject to supervision under the Rules of Procedure (such as MPs' conduct or statements during debates, which is supervised by the President of the House of Representatives);
  • about criminal offences;
  • about conduct that took place before 1 April 2021.