• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• Bugging bill introduced in Holland

Bugging bill introduced in Holland

01 January 1991

Bugging bill introduced in Holland
artdoc February=1992

On 11 December 1991, the draft of a new bill was leaked. Under
it the police will be allowed to monitor conversations by means
of bugging equipment or directional microphones. Permission for
the use of such technical means is at the discretion of the
examining magistrate; the bill allows their deployment for crimes
that are punishable by 4 years or more in prison. This means that
the suspicion of being a member of an illegal organization, an
increasingly common charge against squatters and other `political
activists', suffices. At the moment only the security service
(Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst) is allowed the use of bugging
and microphone devices, but up to now there is no evidence that
the intelligence gained by these means has ever been used in a
Dutch court. The draft bill follows a sustained campaign by
certain police and justice officials who claim that new means are
needed to combat organized crime.

Statewatch, Volume 2 no 1, January/February 1992