Official national publications of the Netherlands

In every modern State it is the Government's job to see that its citizens are properly informed on everything it is doing for their benefit and for the community in which they live and work. That is the object of making the Government's actions and activities known to the public. But publicity alone is not enough. Making facts generally known or generally accessible still does not explain why the measures concerned have been taken. Some explanation is needed of what lies behind policy decisions, so that the public can see what the consequences will be and how the measures implementing the policy will affect them. Maintaining a government information service used to be regarded as a right that the Government claimed for itself, the right to announce and explain its policy directly to the public. Nowadays, publicity and the provision of information are deemed to be a primary duty of the Government, a duty deriving from the right of the public to receive information, to know what is going on. There are two kinds of government information: active and passive. By ‘active’ I mean information that the Government provides on its own initiative, and by ‘passive’ information that is provided in response to a specific request.