Dutch legal and technical terms used across RegelRecht, with English translations.
Dutch legal terminology used throughout RegelRecht, with English translations.
These are the values of regulatory_layer, the schema field naming the kind of legal instrument a file is. The layer fixes which identifier the file must carry, and it ranks candidates when several regulations implement the same open term.
Note that verordening names four different things in this list. An EU-verordening is directly applicable across the Union and outranks national law; a gemeentelijke verordening is local. The shared word is not a shared concept.
| Value | Dutch | English | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
GRONDWET | Grondwet | Constitution | Supreme law of the Netherlands |
WET | Wet | Act of Parliament | Formal legislation passed by the Staten-Generaal |
AMVB | Algemene Maatregel van Bestuur (AMvB) | Order in Council | General administrative order by the Crown, on the basis of a wet |
KONINKLIJK_BESLUIT | Koninklijk besluit (KB) | Royal decree | A decision of the Crown, used among other things to set entry into force |
MINISTERIELE_REGELING | Ministeriële regeling | Ministerial regulation | Regulation issued by a minister under a delegation |
BELEIDSREGEL | Beleidsregel | Policy rule | A rule on how a body uses a power it already has (Awb art. 1:3 lid 4). Binds the body, not the citizen directly |
EU_VERORDENING | EU-verordening | EU Regulation | Directly applicable in every member state, without transposition |
EU_RICHTLIJN | EU-richtlijn | EU Directive | Binding as to the result, transposed into national law by the member state |
VERDRAG | Verdrag | Treaty | International agreement binding on the Netherlands |
UITVOERINGSBELEID | Uitvoeringsbeleid | Implementation policy | Published practice of an executing body, below the level of a beleidsregel |
GEMEENTELIJKE_VERORDENING | Gemeentelijke verordening | Municipal ordinance | Local regulation by a municipality |
PROVINCIALE_VERORDENING | Provinciale verordening | Provincial ordinance | Regional regulation by a province |
WATERSCHAPS_VERORDENING | Waterschapsverordening | Water authority ordinance | Regulation by a waterschap, the regional water authority |
| Dutch | English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Algemene wet bestuursrecht (Awb) | General Administrative Law Act | Framework law for government decision-making |
| Besluit | Decision | A written decision of an administrative body constituting a public-law act (Awb art. 1:3 lid 1) |
| Beschikking | Individual decision | A besluit that is not of general scope (Awb art. 1:3 lid 2). The scope, not the number of people affected, is what distinguishes it |
| Aanvraag | Application | A request for a decision from a government body |
| Bekendmaking | Notification | Making a decision known to the addressee (Awb art. 3:41). The bezwaar period runs from this moment, not from the decision itself |
| Bezwaar | Objection | First recourse, filed with the body that decided |
| Bezwaartermijn | Objection period | Six weeks from bekendmaking (Awb art. 6:7 and 6:8) |
| Beroep | Appeal | Court appeal against a decision on bezwaar |
| Belanghebbende | Interested party | A person whose interest is directly affected by a besluit (Awb art. 1:2) |
| Motivering | Statement of reasons | The obligation to state the grounds a decision rests on (Awb art. 3:46) |
The values of legal_character, the schema field saying what kind of thing an output is.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
BESCHIKKING | A besluit not of general scope (Awb art. 1:3 lid 2) |
BESLUIT_VAN_ALGEMENE_STREKKING | A besluit that is of general scope, addressed to an open group |
RECHTSPOSITIE | A legal position arising by operation of law, without a besluit and without an aanvraag (voting rights, majority, nationality) |
TOETS | An assessment against a norm that is not itself a decision |
WAARDEBEPALING | A determination of a value that other rules then use |
INFORMATIEF | Informative output, carrying no legal consequence of its own |
The values of decision_type, saying what kind of decision an output is within its legal character.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
TOEKENNING | Granting what was applied for |
AFWIJZING | Refusing what was applied for |
GOEDKEURING | Approval of an act by another body |
AANSLAG | A tax assessment |
ALGEMEEN_VERBINDEND_VOORSCHRIFT | A generally binding rule |
BELEIDSREGEL | A policy rule on the use of an existing power (Awb art. 1:3 lid 4) |
VOORBEREIDINGSBESLUIT | A preparatory decision taken ahead of a further one |
ANDERE_HANDELING | Another act that is not one of the above |
GEEN_BESLUIT | Not a decision at all; the article establishes a fact |
| Dutch | English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bestuursorgaan | Administrative body | Any government body making decisions |
| Staten-Generaal | Parliament | Dutch legislature (Eerste + Tweede Kamer) |
| Tweede Kamer | House of Representatives | Lower house of Parliament |
| Eerste Kamer | Senate | Upper house of Parliament |
| Gemeente | Municipality | Local government |
| Belastingdienst | Tax Authority | National tax administration |
| SVB | Social Insurance Bank | Executes social insurance laws |
| UWV | Employee Insurance Agency | Executes employee insurance laws |
| Dienst Toeslagen | Benefits Administration | Executes the income-dependent benefit schemes, zorgtoeslag among them |
| Provincie | Province | Regional government, one layer above the municipality |
| Waterschap | Water authority | Regional body for water management, with its own regulatory power |
| Dutch | English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Memorie van Toelichting (MvT) | Explanatory Memorandum | Legislative intent document accompanying a bill |
| Wetsvoorstel | Bill | Proposed legislation before Parliament |
| Staatsblad | Official Gazette | Where national legislation is formally published |
| Gemeenteblad | Municipal Gazette | Where municipal ordinances are formally published |
| Provincieblad | Provincial Gazette | Where provincial ordinances are formally published |
| Waterschapsblad | Water Authority Gazette | Where waterschap ordinances are formally published |
| Inwerkingtreding | Entry into force | Date a law becomes effective |
| Dutch | English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Geldigheid | Validity | Period during which a law is in force |
| Peildatum | Reference date | Date at which conditions are evaluated |
| Terugwerkende kracht | Retroactive effect | Law applies to situations before its enactment |
| Term | Dutch | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Corpus | Corpus | The git-versioned collection of machine-readable laws. A federated corpus spans more than one repository |
| Open term | Open norm | A value a higher law leaves to a lower regulation to fill. See Inversion of Control |
| Implements | Gelet op | A lower regulation declaring which open terms of a higher law it fills. The schema field carries gelet_op, the citation the Dutch instrument itself opens with |
| Cross-law reference | Verwijzing | A law reading an output of another law through a source block. See Cross-Law References |
| Marking | Markering | A construct the format cannot yet express, flagged on the article. Called untranslatables before schema v0.7.0. See Markings |
| Hook | Haak | Logic that fires at a stage of a procedure rather than on a direct request. See Hooks and Reactive Execution |
| Trace | Spoor | The tree showing how each value in an execution was computed. See Traceability |
| Execution Receipt | Uitvoeringsbewijs | The sealed record of one execution: engine, schema, law version and hash, so the result can be reproduced. See Execution Provenance |
| Traject | Traject | A working context in the editor, with its own members, roles and branch, optionally backed by its own repository |
| Bevoegd gezag | Bevoegd gezag | The body competent to take a decision under a given article. See Competent Authority |
| Absent vs. unknown | Afwezig versus onbekend | A value that does not exist, against a value nobody has. The engine keeps them apart rather than treating both as empty |
| Bucket A / Bucket B | - | The two BDD suites: law validation against the real corpus, and engine conformance against synthetic laws. See Testing |
| Term | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Awb | Algemene wet bestuursrecht | The general administrative law act |
| Awir | Algemene wet inkomensafhankelijke regelingen | The framework act for income-dependent benefit schemes |
| BWB | Basis Wettelijke Regelgeving | The national register of legislation, and the source the harvester reads |
| CVDR | Centrale Voorziening Decentrale Regelgeving | The register of decentralized (municipal, provincial, water authority) regulation |
| MvT | Memorie van Toelichting | The explanatory memorandum accompanying a bill |
| FSC | Federated Service Connectivity | The standard for service-to-service connections between government organizations |
| JAS | Juridisch Analyseschema | A legal analysis schema used in wetsanalyse |
An exploration by Bureau Architectuur of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy into the possibilities of transparent, executable legislation.
GitHub repository
How it works
Stay informed
Roadmap (Dutch)
Documentation
Research
Bureau Architectuur
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy