Supervision and enforcement
Monitoring compliance with legal rules and enforcing them when non-compliance occurs are crucial responsibilities of the government. The purpose of supervision and enforcement is to ensure that societal agreements are upheld, and underlying goals are achieved.
In the Netherlands, numerous authorities and inspectorates are entrusted with the task of supervision and enforcement. Their responsibilities encompass overseeing the quality and safety of healthcare, ensuring fair and transparent financial markets, and maintaining the quality of the physical environment. Additionally, there is intergovernmental supervision, which involves the government's oversight of provinces and municipalities. This type of supervision may also include compliance monitoring, enforcement of legal rules, and intervention by the central government in the interest of the public.
We study supervision and enforcement from different disciplines - from a legal, administrative and legal sociological perspective. For example, we do not only look at the legal side of the administrative law sanctions penalty, administrative coercion and administrative fine - what is allowed under legislation and case law - but also at the effectiveness of such sanctions: do they work? Our research further focuses, for example, on new forms of supervision and ‘smart’ enforcement with more attention to the citizen perspective. Disciplinary law also has our interest. After all, this area of law aims to ensure that members of a profession adhere to the professional standards and rules of conduct of their profession which results in a Intergovernmental supervision has our attention now that, on the one hand, important tasks have been devolved to provinces and municipalities, but on the other hand, there is an increasing need for central direction to solve major societal issues.
Our research on supervision and enforcement encompasses various disciplines, including law, public administration, and sociology. For instance, we explore not only the legal aspects of administrative law sanctions, such as penalties, coercive measures, and administrative fines, examining what is permitted by legislation and case law, but also their effectiveness: do they actually achieve the desired outcomes? Furthermore, we focus on emerging trends in supervision and "smart" enforcement that take into account the perspectives of citizens. Disciplinary law is another area of interest, as it aims to ensure that professionals adhere to the standards and codes of conduct of their respective fields, thereby contributing to a ‘Future-proof disciplinary law. Intergovernmental supervision is currently receiving attention due to the devolution of significant tasks to provinces and municipalities, while simultaneously highlighting the growing need for central coordination to address major societal challenges.
| Last modified: | 26 June 2023 10.57 a.m. |