The Netherlands Consumer Authority is an independent authority that resides under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. It has approximately 42 fte's. The several divisions are described below.
Director
The Netherlands Consumer Authority is headed by Ms. Bernadette van Buchem, who succeeded Ms. Marije Hulshof as Director in 2010.
Enforcement Division
The Enforcement Division carries out investigations into alleged violations of consumer laws. Results are laid down in a Statement of Objections, which is given to the companies involved who have the opportunity to respond.
Every year, priority areas and/or priority themes for investigation are determined. The Signalling & Prioritisation unit, a unit within the Enforcement Division, is responsible for intelligence collection and processing. Another unit of the Enforcement Division is the Single Liaison Office for the Netherlands in connection with European co-operation under Regulation 2006/2004. Cases are investigated by specialised and dedicated case-handling teams.
Legal Division
The Legal Division is responsible for giving advice on sanctions, for filing civil cases and for (administrative) appeals made by the Enforcement Division. In addition, the Case Register resides under the Legal Division.
Firstly, the Legal Division advises the Director of the Netherlands Consumer Authority with regard to sanction decisions that are based on the Enforcement Division's Statements of Objections. As a result of this division of work, cases are always reviewed twice. Both divisions adhere to strict regulations (so-called 'Chinese Walls') on sharing and managing case-related information.
Secondly, the Legal Division handles all administrative appeals and appeals to a judge (in multiple instances) against the decisions of the Netherlands Consumer Authority. The Legal Division is also responsible for representing the Netherlands Consumer Authority during those cases in court.
Thirdly, the Legal Division is responsible for filing consumer cases under civil law in order to acquire a cease and desist order in situations of specific breaches of collective consumer interests.
Consumer Information
The Consumer Information Division operates a consumer information desk (ConsuWijzer), which is jointly operated by the Netherlands Consumer Authority, the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) and the Netherlands Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA). Consuwijzer's objective is to empower consumers, thereby enhancing competition and reducing consumer issues, as well as to gather intelligence from the queries and complaints that it receives.
Staff
Some of our business processes (IT, Human Resources, finance) are shared with the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), while others take place in-house, such as strategy, international and communications. The in-house staff resides directly under the Director.
