Netherlands/ 5.1 General legislation  

5.1.3 Allocation of public funds

Government arts funding has its legislative base in a number of laws. The most relevant laws are:

• Cultural Policy Act [Wet op het specifiek cultuurbeleid, 1993];
• Monuments and Historic Buildings Act of 1988 [Monumentenwet 1988];
• Archaeology Act [Wet op de Archeologische Monumentenzorg, 2007];
• Public Records Act [Archiefwet, 1995];
• Copyright Law of 1912 [Auteurswet 1912];
• tax laws ; and
• Media Act [Mediawet, 1987].

The Cultural Policy Act (1993), which regulates the subsidies based upon cultural policy decisions, also enables the Minister to create Funds to finance the arts and culture. These Funds operate at arm's length and the Minister only decides about the quantity of money reserved for them. The Cultural Policy Act was subject to alterations in 2007, relating to the introduction of a differentiated subsidy system for the arts and cultural heritage sectors and accordingly to changes in the design of the Council for Culture. As from 2009, the granting of subsidies is put at a greater distance from Parliament than is now the case; as a result, Parliament members can orient themselves towards the content of cultural-political debate. The Public Cultural Funds (see chapter 8.1.1) will take over part of the task of the Council for Culture and judge most of the cultural institutions, companies and projects, based upon artistic evaluations.

Domestic legislation is laid down in the Budget Act [Begrotingswet], which stipulates that all public spending should be annually approved by Parliament. Due to special laws, long-term subsidies in culture are in principle possible. According to EU legislation, the compulsory tendering for larger funds is also applicable to culture and architecture.

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