Netherlands wrongfully issued criminal sentence demands to other EU countries for years

For 10 years, the Netherlands wrongfully issued notifications to other European Union Member States and the United Kingdom regarding at least 22,000 cases where criminal sentences were imposed on people by a prosecutor, and not a courtroom. Member States are allowed to share information with each other about nationals or foreigners who have committed crimes and moved to another country. However, the Netherlands should have limited itself to exchanging information only about criminal convictions, and not cases where the Public Prosecution Service issued a penalty without the case being heard in court, outgoing Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) wrote in a parliamentary letter.

The minister "deeply regrets" that information has also been provided about sentences imposed by the Public Prosecution Service. This generally involves more minor crimes not brought before a judge. The unlawful transfer of this data took place between April 2012 and September 2022, but the consequences are unclear because it is not known how often the Dutch penalty orders listed in the register were requested by other countries.

Therefore, those affected may be disadvantaged without knowing the reasons why. The government cannot inform all those affected because their address can no longer be found or because data protection regulations stand in the way, Weerwind reported.

Since 2012, countries have been able to transmit convictions through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), allowing them to inform each other about people with a criminal past. This includes, for example, convictions handed down in the Netherlands against Dutch citizens and people from EU member states or other countries.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) raised the alarm last year about the provision of criminal convictions by the Netherlands. Weerwind subsequently had this investigated. The outgoing minister now concludes that there is no legal basis for this and that only convictions may be shared.

As a result, the Netherlands has asked EU member states to remove Dutch OM convictions. However, it is not known which country copied which conviction to its own national register. According to a ministry spokesperson, countries cannot be forced to do so.