The 2024 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v European Commission fundamentally reshaped the legal status of harmonised technical standards (HTS) by confirming that standards referenced in EU legislation form part of EU law and must be publicly accessible. This policy brief examines how that ruling has been implemented in the Netherlands and assesses whether current national practices meet the Court’s requirements of legal certainty, transparency, and democratic accountability.
The analysis combines legal assessment with empirical research into Dutch administrative practice. It reviews the implications of the CJEU judgment for national authorities and standardisation bodies, focusing on two access pathways: proactive publication of standards and access through individual requests under the Dutch Open Government Act (Wet open overheid, Woo). Particular attention is given to the role of the Dutch standardisation body, NEN, including its NEN Connect portal, which provides limited free access to a subset of harmonised standards.
The findings show that, despite modest steps toward increased transparency, access to HTS in the Netherlands remains fragmented and restrictive. Most standards remain behind paywalls or are available only through on-site consultation under conditions that prevent effective use. Formal Woo requests submitted in this research were systematically rejected on the grounds that the standards were already “publicly accessible,” an interpretation that prioritises formal availability over meaningful access. Objection procedures offered little legal recourse, revealing structural barriers to enforcing the CJEU ruling at national level.
A comparative glance at similar experiences in France indicates that these challenges are not unique to the Netherlands but reflect a broader disconnect between EU-level legal principles and national implementation. The brief concludes that reliance on individual access requests is insufficient to give effect to the CJEU judgment. It calls for proactive publication of HTS referenced in EU law, clearer national guidelines on accessibility, and the development of EU-level funding or compensation mechanisms to address the financial impact on standardisation bodies. Without coordinated action, uneven national practices risk undermining the uniform application of EU law and public trust in regulatory governance.
You can download the report here.