NETHERLANDS REPORTS TO THE SEVENTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF COMPARATIVE LAW NETHERLANDS REPORTS TO THE SEVENTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF COMPARATIVE LAW Utrecht 2006 EDITORS J.H.M. VAN ERP AND L.P.W. VAN VLIET Intersentia ANTWERPEN – OXFORD Distribution for the UK: Distribution for North America: Hart Publishing Gaunt Inc. Salter’s Boat Yard Gaunt Building Folly Bridge 3011 Gulf Drive Abingdon Road Holmes Beach Oxford OX1 4LB Florida 34217-2199 UK USA Tel: + 44 1865 24 55 33 Tel: + 1 941 778 5211 Fax: + 44 1865 79 48 82 Fax: + 1 941 778 5252 Distribution for Switzerland and Germany: Distribution for other countries: Schulthess Verlag Intersentia Publishers Zwingliplatz 2 Groenstraat 31 CH-8022 Zürich 2640 Mortsel Switzerland Belgium Tel: + 41 1 251 93 36 Tel: + 32 3 680 15 50 Fax: + 41 1 261 63 94 Fax: + 32 3 658 71 21 Netherlands Reports to the Seventeenth International Congress of Comparative Law J.H.M. van Erp & L.P.W. van Vliet (editors) © 2006 J.H.M. van Erp, L.P.W. van Vliet, the authors of the reports & Intersentia Antwerp – Oxford http://www.intersentia.com ISBN-10: 90-5095-579-7 ISBN-13: 978-90-5095-579-9 D/2006/7849/38 NUR 828 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without permission from the contributors concerned. FOREWORD Every four years the Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé organises a World Congress of Comparative Law. The board of the Netherlands Comparative Law Association feels highly honoured by the Academy’s decision to hold the XVIIth World Congress of Comparative Law in the Netherlands, in the summer of 2006. The congress will be held in Utrecht. In the past the world congresses have created an excellent forum for information exchange and discussion between legal experts worldwide. Information exchange is the starting point for any comparative legal analysis. The world congresses have also been rare occasions where comparative legal scholars from different disciplines could meet. Traditionally, the role of comparative law has been extensive in the Netherlands. This can be seen when looking at, e.g., the parliamentary and scholarly debates concerning the new Civil Code. Furthermore there is growing awareness that economic integration, be it regional or global, has an undeniable and unavoidable impact on Dutch law. The international reputation of the Dutch legal order as being open towards solutions developed by other jurisdictions played an important role for the Academy when it had to decide in Brisbane, Australia, four years ago, where the next congress would be held. Comparative legal analysis is undeniably of growing importance in the Netherlands. This applies to the legislative process, judicial deliberations as well as to the curricula of law faculties. It is more and more realised that law as a learning process has much to gain from foreign experience. Giving this growing importance of comparative law, more and more Dutch national organisations of legal experts now discuss topics not only on a strictly national, but also on a comparative basis. This has led to a changing role of the Netherlands Comparative Law Association. The association is focussing more and more on interdisciplinary comparative research, bringing together scholars from various fields and backgrounds. I would like to thank the authors who wrote the Dutch national reports. The reports will give foreign readers a solid and in-depth insight into developments in Dutch law. Frequently, the reports themselves already contain comparative analysis, aimed at clarifying the description of Dutch law. Finally, I would like to thank my co-editor, dr. Lars van Vliet, associate- secretary and treasurer of the Netherlands Comparative Law Association and lecturer in private law at Maastricht University. I am grateful to him for his continuing efforts to find national reporters and for his editing work. Many thanks also to Marjo Mullers from Maastricht University for her assistance in editing and for making all the texts camera-ready. The Netherlands v FOREWORD Comparative Law Association is also indebted to Intersentia which was again prepared to publish these national reports. Prof. dr. J.H.M. van Erp President Netherlands Comparative Law Association vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ...................................................................................................................v List of Authors.........................................................................................................xi I A F. BRANDSMA The Dutch Common Law Tradition Some remarks on Dutch Private Law and the Ius Commune................................................................................................ 1 I B M.H.M. SCHELLEKENS Legal Limitations on Genetic Research and the Commercialisation of its Results...................................................................................................................... 17 I C 1 O.A. HAAZEN Precedent in the Netherlands ............................................................................... 33 II A 1 B.E. REINHARTZ Recent Changes in the Law of Succession in the Netherlands: On the Road towards a European Law of Succession? ..................................... 59 II A 2 M.J. VONK Tensions between Legal, Biological and Social Conceptions of Parenthood in Dutch Family Law........................................................................ 83 II A 3 L.P.W. VAN VLIET The Boundaries of Property Rights: Netherlands National Report 2006...... 109 II B 2 V. LAZIC Arbitration Law Reform in the Netherlands: Formal and Substantive Validity of an Arbitration Agreement ............................................................... 125 II B 3 I. CURRY-SUMNER Private International Law Aspects of Homosexual Couples: the Netherlands Report ....................................................................................... 147 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS II C 1 V.V.R. VAN BOGAERT Le rapport néerlandais sur la responsabilité civile, pénale et disciplinaire des magistrats. Le juge néerlandais: indépendant et irresponsable .............. 177 II C 2 A.W. JONGBLOED Access to justice, Costs and Legal Aid............................................................... 223 III A 1 H.A. DE SAVORNIN LOHMAN & M.G. VAN ‘T WESTEINDE Control and Liability of Credit Rating Agencies under Netherlands Law... 255 III A 2 D.R.A. GORIS Vertical Restraints of Competition..................................................................... 281 III A 3 J. VAN DEN BRANDE & D.C. ELZINGA Cyber Consumer Protection and Fair Trading in the Netherlands ............... 305 III B M. DE COCK BUNING & F.W. GROSHEIDE The Digitalizing of Literary and Musical Works ............................................. 319 IV B 1 R. DE LANGE & P.A.M. MEVIS Constitutional Guarantees for the Independence of the Judiciary ................ 327 IV B 2 L.F.M. BESSELINK Constitutional Referenda in the Netherlands: a Debate in the Margin......... 349 IV D 1 G.H. ADDINK & J.B.J.M. TEN BERGE Study on Innovation of Legal Means for Eliminating Corruption in the Public Service in the Netherlands ...................................................................... 379 IV D 3 R.A.J. VAN GESTEL, PH. EIJLANDER & J.A.F. PETERS The regulatory Powers of Quangos in the Netherlands Are Trojan Horses invading our Democracy?...................................................................... 421 IV E J.L.M. GRIBNAU & R.H. HAPPÉ Restricting the Legislative Power to Tax........................................................... 451 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS V B C.H. BRANTS-LANGERAAR Consensual Criminal Procedures: Plea and Confession Bargaining and Abbreviated Procedures to Simplify Criminal Procedure.............................. 485 VI S. VAN DER HOF The Status of eGovernment in the Netherlands............................................... 521 ix LIST OF AUTHORS G.H. Addink Senior lecturer and researcher in Constitutional and Administrative Law, Utrecht University J.B.J.M. ten Berge Professor of Constitutional and Administrative (Procedural) Law, Utrecht University L.F.M. Besselink Jean Monnet Chair of European Constitutional Law, Utrecht University V.V.R. van Bogaert Lecturer in Jurisprudence, University of Groningen J. van den Brande Attorney, Loyens & Loeff Rotterdam F. Brandsma Professor of Ius Commune, University of Groningen C.H. Brants-Langeraar Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Utrecht University M. de Cock Buning Professor of Communication, Media and Advertisement Law, Utrecht University I. Curry-Sumner Lecturer in Private International Law, Comparative Law and Family Law, Utrecht University Ph. Eijlander Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Tilburg University D.C. Elzinga Attorney, Loyens & Loeff Rotterdam R.A.J. van Gestel Senior lecturer in Theory and Methods of Legislation, Tilburg University D.R.A. Goris Attorney, Loyens & Loeff Rotterdam xi LIST OF AUTHORS J.L.M. Gribnau Senior lecturer in Tax Law, Tilburg University F.W. Grosheide Professor of Private Law, Utrecht University O.A. Haazen Attorney, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, New York R.H. Happé Professor of Tax Law, Tilburg University S. van der Hof Senior lecturer in Private International Law and ICT-law, Tilburg University A.W. Jongbloed Professor in Civil Procedure, Utrecht University R. de Lange Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam V. Lazic Senior lecturer in International Commercial Arbitration, Utrecht University P.A.M. Mevis Professor