Overview
- An internal email from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service shows several agencies are jointly exploring whether to abolish dwangsommen, the automatic fines paid when the government misses decision deadlines.
- The IND has reported nearly €100 million in dwangsommen this year and other bodies such as UWV and Dienst Toeslagen have also paid large sums, which agencies say is unsustainable given limited staff and high workloads.
- The cabinet has proposed removing the dwangsom for late asylum decisions and a majority in the House of Representatives supports that change while the Senate still must vote on the measure.
- Critics including the national ombudsman warn that removing dwangsommen would strip citizens of an important enforcement mechanism and risk weakening rule-of-law safeguards for people waiting on permits, benefits, or compensation.
- Dwangsommen were introduced in 2009 as a procedural tool to speed decisions, carry statutory daily rates from €23 to €1,442 with higher court-set sums possible, and any lasting change would require new legislation and will interact with recent Council of State rulings limiting some payments.