Supervision of the Public Prosecution Service (OM)

The Procurator General at the Supreme Court may inform the Minister of Justice and Security if he is of the opinion that the Public Prosecution Service does not properly enforce or implement the statutory regulations in the performance of its duty (Article 122 of the Judiciary Organisation Act). In the context of this duty, the Procurator General institutes (mostly thematic) investigations into how the Public Prosecution Service performs its duties. Therein, attention is usually directed to the legal quality of the duty being investigated.

In 2025, one investigation was completed and a final report was published. The Procurator General presented the report to the Minister of Justice and Security on 3 July 2025. In addition, an investigation was launched in 2025, the findings of which are expected in 2026.

Supervision report ‘Afgezien van vervolging’

The supervision report entitled ‘Decided not to prosecute’ (Dutch: ‘Afgezien van vervolging’) focused on the question of whether the Public Prosecution Service properly upholds and implements the statutory regulations when deciding to dismiss prosecution. A significant proportion of criminal cases end in a dismissal: this refers to the Public Prosecution Service’s decision not to prosecute in a criminal case (any further). A dismissal may be subject to certain conditions. The reason for the dismissal is indicated by a dismissal code.

The investigation concluded that dismissal decisions certainly do not always satisfy the statutory requirements.  In a significant share of the cases examined, no letter of dismissal was sent to the suspect, the counsel and the victim. Not all decisions to conclude a criminal case in dismissal are understandable.  Factual accounts were also found to be inadequate. The investigation also revealed the existence of defects in the Public Prosecution Service’s case management system. For example, authorisations do not always correspond to the positions of officials authorised to dismiss cases.

Several recommendations have been made based on the findings of the investigation. First and foremost, it is recommended to establish some form of internal supervision on the lawfulness of dismissal decisions. A second recommendation is to ensure that the authorisations in the case management system correspond to the positions of the officials making the assessment. Thirdly, it is recommended to ensure that the factual accounts, the qualification, and the grounds for the decision are accurate and complete. The other recommendations relate to sending proper notice, to the information regarding the legal consequences of the dismissal in such a notice, to the restructuring of dismissal codes, and to the development of an assessment policy for a case’s eligibility for unconditional or conditional dismissal.

Read the supervision report ‘Afgezien van vervolging ’ here.

Ongoing investigation

In 2025, an investigation was launched into the Public Prosecution Service’s use of penalty orders to settle criminal cases. The investigation is a follow-up to the Supervision report published in 2022, on the Public Prosecution Service's compliance with the law in issuing penalty orders (Dutch: 'Buiten de rechter OM'). That report contained a number of recommendations. Considering the Public Prosecution Service’s announcement on 17 February 2025, that it will be settling more criminal cases by means of a penalty order, the Procurator General deems it important to assess the extent to which previous recommendations have been followed. The investigation will also address the policy change.

Read the supervisory report ‘Buiten de rechter OM' here.