Several laws on cultural heritage exist. The most important ones are the following:
The Heritage Act, installed on July 1st, 2016, replaced six laws and regulations in the field of cultural heritage. The Heritage Act (in Dutch) describes what cultural heritage is, how the Netherlands deals with movable cultural heritage, who is responsible for what and how the Netherlands monitors this. More specifically, the act provides rules regarding the following: conservation and registration of public collections; financial relations with state-financed museums; assessing objects from public collections; protection of public monuments and archaeology; restitution of looted art; intangible heritage; finance and governance; and cultural heritage inspection. The act is evaluated in 2023 (see chapter 3.1).
In 2024, the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) came into effect. Much like the Heritage Act, the Environment and Planning Act will replace and modernise multiple existing laws regarding water, air, soil, nature, infrastructure, buildings and cultural heritage in the living environment: “The new act will result in fewer regulations and will reduce the burden of conducting studies. At the same time, decisions on projects and activities can be made better and more quickly. Moreover, the act is more in line with European regulations and allows more room for private initiatives.” The Monuments and Historic Buildings Act is one of the laws that is partly absorbed in the Environment and Planning Act. Components of the Monuments and Historic Buildings Act that are not related to the living environment are included in the above mentioned Heritage Act. Thus, the Environment and Planning Act will regulate cultural heritage in the physical living environment while the Heritage Act contains the interpretation of heritage and the care of cultural property in government ownership. The following elements will be included in the Environment and Planning Act: permits for (archaeological) national monuments; the protection and preservation of the specific historic character of a village, town or city; the appointment of a monument committee; the need to take cultural heritage into account in environmental plans; and the designation of provincial and municipal monuments.
A new Archives Act was passed by the House of Representatives on 18 February 2025. This Act replaces the 1995 Archives Act and is designed to better align with the government’s digital information management. Since the previous version of the Act (from 1995), the amount of digital information has increased enormously. In addition to paper documents, governments now also have countless emails, websites, and databases full of information. Over time, it becomes more difficult to organise and keep all this digital information accessible. The new Act therefore encourages government organisations to ensure proper archiving from the outset and to destroy files in a timely manner when they no longer need to be kept. Key changes include shortening the transfer period for permanently preserved government information from 20 to 10 years, and clarifying responsibilities for digital information management. At the time of compiling this Compendium Profile, the Act is under consideration in the Senate.
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