Netherlands - Central Authority & practical information

Central Authority:

De Officier van Justitie
(Public Prosecutor at the District Court of The Hague)

Contact details:
Address: Arrondissementsparket Den Haag
Afdeling executie, t.a.v. Ms. J. Booister
Postbus 20302
2500 EH Den Haag
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31 (0)88 699 1300
Fax: -
E-mail: serviceconvention@om.nl
General website: -
Contact person: Ms. M. van der Zee
Languages spoken by staff: Dutch, English

 

Practical Information:
Forwarding authorities
(Art. 3(1)):

For the Kingdom in Europe: the Public Prosecutors and the Supreme Court Procurator General in cases heard or to be heard by the Supreme Court, as well as the courts and the bailiffs. 

For Aruba:
the Procurator General
Havenstraat 2
Oranjestad
Aruba
tel.: +297 582 1415
fax: +297 583 8891
e-mail: om.aruba@setarnet.aw
Methods of service
(Art. 5(1)(2)):

Formal Service (Article 5(1)(a))
If the documents are to be served in the Court District of The Hague, the Central Authority sends them to a randomly selected bailiff, with the request to serve the documents on the person concerned. If documents are to be served in another court district, the Central Authority sends them to the designated Public Prosecutor’s Office / International Legal Assistance Center (IRC) and requests for service by a bailiff.
The Public Prosecutor will serve by way of police; also in practice done via postal service - if no one is there, a message is left stating where the document can be collected.

Informal delivery (Article 5(2))
With regard to the authorities involved, informal delivery works in the same way as formal service (see above). The explanatory memorandum to the Implementation Act states that, as a rule, a local police officer in the Court District concerned should be deployed by the Public Prosecutor for an issue in the Dutch language. However in practice, there is no real uniformity. Depending on where the documents are to be served, they are sometimes served via postal channels, by the police or by a member of the "documents service brigade".

Service by a particular method (Article 5(1)(b))
A special request has never been received.

For more information on service of documents, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – The Netherlands.
Translation requirements
(Art. 5(3)):		 No translation is required. However, a translation of the summary is desirable. There are no agreements with other countries.
Costs relating to execution of the request for service
(Art. 12):

Charges are only incurred if documents are served by a bailiff. The charges vary according to the request and the bailiff concerned. When implementation documents are sent to the requesting state, the bill of the bailiff’s charges is also sent.

Also, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – The Netherlands (question 8).
Time for execution of request: An average of two to three months.
Judicial officers, officials or other competent persons
(Art. 10(b))		 Royal Professional Association of Judicial Officers in The Netherlands / Organisation professionnelle royale des huissiers de justice / Koninklijke Beroepsorganisatie van Gerechtsdeurwaarders (KBvG)
Prinses Margrietplantsoen 49
2595 BR DEN HAAG
Tel: + 31 (0)70 890 3530
Fax: +31 (0)70 890 3531
kbvg@kbvg.nl
http://www.kbvg.nl/
Oppositions and declarations
(Art. 21(2)):		 Click here to read all the declarations made by this State under the Service Convention.
Art. 8(2): No opposition
Art. 10(a): No opposition
Art. 10(b): No opposition
Art. 10(c): No opposition
Art. 15(2): Declaration of applicability
Art. 16(3): Declaration of applicability
Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)
Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.		 Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas - Service of Documents).
Useful links:  
Competent authorities
(Arts 6, 9)		 Art. 6: See here.
Art. 9: See here. 
Other authorities
(Art. 18)		 Netherlands: See here.
Aruba: See here.

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Conventions (incl. Protocols and Principles)