Editor Natasha Gunn looks at the issue of ever-increasing rules, regulations and bureaucracy in the Netherlands and invites readers to give their opinion on the matter.

 

A couple of months ago, the local council presented the occupants of my street with two large bins, one grey and one green per house. We were instructed by letter to put normal trash bags in the grey bin and bio-afval in the green.

I did as I was told and piled all my full bin-bags in the grey bin and wheeled the object outside to the correct corner of the pavement. One bag didn’t fit in, so I hummed and hawed over whether to place the thing on top of the pile and leave the top flapped open, or to place it beside the bin. I chose the latter.

Shortly afterwards, a man in a grey suit was on my doorstep. He told me that I wasn’t allowed to place a bin-bag on the ground. I explained that I couldn’t fit the bag in the bin and he then indicated that he had managed to do so. I glanced over and saw that he had indeed squashed the offending bag into the bin.

He eyed me suspiciously and asked me if I was living in the house. Following my affirmation, he asked me if I was legally residing there. I was irritated by this time, but nodded and smiled and told him that I owned the house and proceeded to show him the required identity papers. He then proceeded to fill in a yellow form and informed that I would have to pay EUR 50 for leaving the bag on the ground. I asked him for a second chance, told him that now that I knew the rule I wouldn’t err again. He refused to bend, telling me that he had fined others in the street and therefore couldn’t give anyone a second chance.

I asked him what I should do if I had more than one bag over every time.  Should I pile them in the garden, or would that not attract rats? But his job was done and he wasn’t paid to give solutions to such problems.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints from friends saying that if they step over the line, unknowingly or not, the Dutch authorities punish them immediately. Instead of simplifying things the Dutch simply seem to be creating more rules and more bureaucracy, which is of course a big incentive for foreigners to learn Dutch quickly.

Control versus effective

The overall impression is one of big brother watching – with stealth. For example, the typical traffic camera is secreted behind a traffic sign rather than being in view. One wouldn’t be surprised to find a camera hidden in the bottom of trash bins to trap offending motorists, or even, I fantasize, to check if bewoners are correctly separating out their rubbish.

Can we say that being in control has become more important than being effective?

For instance, I have heard that many sectors, including police, accounting and health care, are so drowned in new rules that the percentage of work spent on the "primary process" is dwindling to, in some cases below 50 percent.

The government will have us believe that more control and more protocol will lead to a safer society and better results; however isn’t over-standardisation a danger to creativity and innovation, especially in the business world?

The innovation catch

For many the only way to bypass this heavy bureaucracy is through using the services of specialised officers, advisers and lobbyists, which likely only the larger scale business can afford.

For instance, as a Dutch acquaintance with a small business pointed out, the government has launched programmes to stimulate innovation, but it is difficult for small scale businesses to qualify. The government has released regulations for knowledge workers (IND), but again, the conditions are far easier for the larger business to fulfil.

Paradoxically, although it is easier for larger companies to be innovative, creativity is threatened within such enterprises by the need to be in control, and a plethora of protocols are put firmly in place, something which in the long-run discourages out-of-the-box thinking.

A society of choice

Lastly, I have heard opinions, both positive and negative, about the Netherlands developing a society of choice, all from Dutch acquaintances.

Criminals, for instance, are spoilt for choice of options in the form of courses to prepare them for reintegration into society. If you exclude people from society by imprisonment, then do we want them wandering around having forgotten how society works? Surely second chances to create learning effects may be less effective than simply putting offenders in prison or fining them heavily.

The element of choice can also be applied to the now looming smoking ban. A suggestion is to leave the decision up to the establishment owner as to whether smoking is permitted or not. In this way a bar frequented by heavy drinkers and smokers will continue to be geared towards the choice of the clients.

I invite readers to give their feedback on the above and to ponder on these three questions:

Do you indeed think that the Netherlands is drowning itself in a morass of protocols and regulations which breed mistrust rather than lead to a safer society?

Is being in control becoming more important than being effective?

On a positive note, are the Dutch in fact breaking new ground in their attempts to deal with social issues and moving towards an alternative society?

Want to reply? Send your email to feedback@expatica.com 

Editor's note: Thank you for your feedback: Dutch shift from prevention to punishment and More rules, regulations and bureaucracy.

30 May 2007

Natasha Gunn
Editor
Expatica Netherlands

[Copyright Expatica 2007]