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On 8 May 2012 the Netherlands adopted a legislative proposal amending the Telecommunicatiewet (Telecommunications Act), thereby laying down the principle of net neutrality (Article 7.4a) in Dutch law. The Netherlands is only the second country in the world (the first was Chile) to adopt net neutrality in its legislation. The principle of net neutrality means that all Internet traffic should be treated as equal by Internet access providers. It secures consumers’ free access to the Internet and prohibits blocking services or prioritising certain types of Internet traffic. In the Netherlands concerns...

On 10 April 2012 the Dutch government adopted an amendment to Article 2139 of the Dutch Media Act 2008, which makes programme data available by abolishing the monopoly held by public broadcasting organisations. The new Article 2139 of the Dutch Media Act 2008 will enter into force on 1 January 2013. The amendment is based on the main conclusions set forth in a 2011 report by the Commissariaat voor de Media (Dutch Media Authority) initiated by the Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science - OCW). The goal of the amendment is to liberalise the market...

On 26 January 2012, the Court of Hertogenbosch annulled a decision by the Province of Noord-Brabant regarding the lowering or funding to the regional broadcaster ‘Omroep Brabant’. Under the Dutch Media Act (Mediawet) each Province is obliged to financially enable at least one regional broadcaster. Specifically Article 2.170 of the Dutch Media Act states that a Province has to enable a media-offer of high quality and has to guarantee continuity of funding, maintaining the quality and quantity that was the standard in 2004. On 2 July 2010 the Province of Noord-Brabant adopted a decision to lower...

On 12 December 2011, the European Commission notified the Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Authoriteit (Independent Post and Telecommunication Authority - OPTA), the Dutch national regulatory authority, that it had no comments on OPTA’s assessment of the retail market for TV services in the Netherlands. As the retail market for TV services is not listed in the Commission Recommendation 2007/879/EC of 17 December 2007 on relevant product and service markets within the electronic communications sector susceptible to ex ante regulation, OPTA has carried out the three criteria test to assess...

On 11 January 2012 the District Court of The Hague ordered two Dutch internet access providers to block access to The Pirate Bay. Furthermore, Stichting BREIN, a foundation protecting the interests of the Dutch copyright industry, has been granted a right to directly request the providers to block future IP-addresses and (sub) domain names that may refer to The Pirate Bay. The providers in question, Ziggo and XS4ALL, have already announced they will appeal the ruling. BREIN, on the other hand, has announced it will request similar measures from other providers. The District Court found the legal...