Yesterday, the Ministry of Justice published an important report about the Dutch right of inquiry, as prepared by the Institute for Corporate Law (a cooperation of the University of Groningen and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam). The report, called 'Right of Inquiry', can be found here (Dutch only).
The report is important, as it provides an impressive amount of - not yet available - data about inquiry proceedings in the 1971-2007 period, and investigates the functioning of the Enterprise Chamber and the Supreme Court as to the right of inquiry. This data can be used in the coming reconsideration of the existing framework of the right of inquiry by the legislator, as announced by the Ministry of Justice in 2007. In that process, the suggestions made by the Social Economic Council in 2008 as to certain modifications in the right of inquiry will also be taken into account (including the SEC's proposal to introduce a Dutch version of the business judgment rule, with reference to my thesis Judicial Review of Director Conduct - Under Dutch and Delaware Corporate Law, Deventer: Kluwer 2007). Those suggestions can be found here (Dutch only, but with a summary in English).
The Ministry of Justice has the intention to prepare a draft amendment to the existing right of inquiry before the end of this year. We will keep you posted.
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