The Legal 500

Foreign employers in the Netherlands should realize that there are many Dutch legal provisions protecting the interests of all employees working in the Netherlands. These are, among other legal provisions, the rules regarding holidays, minimum wages, working hours, employment of (partly) disabled workers, equal treatment, dismissals, works councils, collective bargaining (CAO), health and safety at the workplace, social security and social assistance. In the following, a few issues of Dutch labour law will be explained.

In den letzten zehn Jahren hat die Diskussion über effiziente Formen der Leitung und Überwachung börsennotierter Gesellschaften unter dem Stichwort Corporate Governance stark zugenommen. Diese Entwicklung ist sowohl auf die Globalisierung der Kapitalmärkte als auch auf die vermehrten Schieflagen von Unternehmen im In- und Ausland zurückzuführen. So gab es beispielsweise in den Niederlanden im Jahr 2003 großen Aufruhr aufgrund des Debakels um den Ahold-Konzern (einer der weltweit größten Betreiber von Supermarktketten, wie zum Beispiel Albert Heijn, Etos und Gall&Gall), der Bilanzmanipulationen einräumen musste. In Deutschland machte in den 90-er Jahren die FlowTex-Affäre Schlagzeilen, im Jahre 2002 wurde der Comroad-Skandal aufgedeckt.

On 22 June the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (the “Working Party”), the consultative body of the European privacy protection authorities, published an opinion that gives substance to the amended rules for “online behavioral advertising”. Prior consent is required for the placing of cookies, and the information requirements are also forced up.

The European Court of Justice ruled on the responsibility of Google concerning AdWords earlier this year. This decision is about the use of AdWords by a competitor and reseller. The Court considers when such online advertising constitutes trademark infringement.

Foreign employers in the Netherlands should realize that there are many Dutch legal provisions protecting the interests of all employees working in the Netherlands. These are, among other legal provisions, the rules regarding holidays, minimum wages, working hours, employment of (partly) disabled workers, equal treatment, dismissals, works councils, collective bargaining (CAO), health and safety at the workplace, social security and social assistance. In the following, a few issues of Dutch labour law will be explained.

THE CURRENT ECONOMIC SITUATION HAS forced many companies to reduce costs. Such cost reductions can often only be eff ected by implementing important changes in the organisation (reorganisation), which most of the time leads to (collective) redundancies. To have a legally valid reorganisation in the Netherlands, there are several statutory requirements to comply with. This article sets out the general rules of Dutch law that apply in (collective) redundancies.

On February 12, 2010 the Dutch Supreme Court passed judgment in the second cassation proceedings on the use of a fixed formula in calculating damages in the event of manifestly unreasonable dismissal. After already ruling on November 27, 2009 that the Subdistrict Court Formula (also known as the “ABC Formula”) could not be applied, the alternative applied by the Courts of Appeal (with the exception of The Hague) has now also died an early death.

UN-immunity disregards fundamental human rights: A decision by the Court of Appeals at The Hague in the case of the Mothers of Srebrenica

A decision by the Court of Appeals at The Hague in the case of the Mothers of Srebrenica

Raad van State schept duidelijkheid over vraag of gemeente snel vergunning mag geven

Dutch corporate law needs to be modernised to make it more appealing at an international level. The Dutch Lower House adopted five legislative proposals in December 2009 that are meant to contribute to this modernisation. These proposals will be discussed in this article.