Netherlands/ 5.1 General legislation  

5.1.2 Division of jurisdiction

There is no law-based division of responsibilities between central government, provinces and municipalities. In the Dutch Monuments and Historic Buildings Act of 1988, [Monumentenwet 1988], the Public Records Act [Archiefwet, 1995] and the Work and Income Provisions for Artists Act [WWIK, Wet werk en inkomen kunstenaars, 2005] specific tasks and competences for municipalities and provinces are indicated.

Apart from these laws, municipalities are free to develop cultural policy in whatever direction. On the other hand, the Minister (or State Secretary) of Culture is obliged to consult provinces and municipalities before sending the four-year cultural policy documents to parliament. As part of this process, a contract system has been developed to coordinate cultural policy initiatives launched by the 3 levels of government (see also chapter 3.2).

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