District Court of Rotterdam has ruled on ACM’s refusal to publish certain documents

The District Court of Rotterdam ruled that the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) was correct in its decision regarding a request for publication. ACM had refused to publish the requested documents.

When receiving requests to publish documents that, in short, concern its oversight and enforcement activities, ACM tests such requests against Section 7 and Section 12w of the Establishment Act of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. With regard to publication of these types of documents by ACM, said Sections take precedence over the publication rules of the Dutch Act on Public Access to Government Information (Wob).

In this case, a request was made for documents from the case file of an irrevocable decision on objection. This decision concerned an objection against the withdrawal of a premium-rate telephone number on the grounds of manifest abuse. ACM tested this request against the Establishment Act of ACM. This act does, in principle, not provide for the publication of case-file documents.

Referring to previous case law, the District Court of Rotterdam has ruled that ACM’s refusal to publish the documents was lawful. The appeal has therefore been disallowed.

Read the ruling of the District Court of Rotterdam (in Dutch)