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Netherlands: New preparatory offences

01 May 1994

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On 1 April new legislation came into force which enables criminal prosecution for the preparation of any criminal offence punishable with at least 8 years imprisonment. The prosecution must demonstrate the preparatory measures by showing that the suspect actually has artifacts, materials, money, information carriers, spaces or transport facilities at his or her disposal that are obviously intended to carry out the intended crime. Additionally, the crimes have to be planned to be carried out with more than one perpetrator. The change of law was motivated with the need to be able to intervene with the full force of the law when serious crimes such as a bank robbery or pornographic child abuse are being prepared, without having to wait until the crime is actually carried out and people's lives may be endangered. However, following an adaption of the narcotics law in the early 1980s which allows for similar prosecution of preparatory measures, that clause has so far mainly been used to allow the police to operate in a proactive phase and to reinforce the evidence in a later trial. Proponents of the new legislation have put forward the argument that investigating magistrates will now be in a better position to become fully involved in police investigations in an earlier phase, thus allowing for better procedural controls.

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