Yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature was ordered in summary proceedings by the Hague Court to publish 2023 emission data of cattle farms in Gelderland. The Court decided this in summary proceedings that were brought by NRC newspaper, the broadcaster Omroep Gelderland, and Follow the Money.
These proceedings had been prompted by requests from the journalists under the Woo [Open Government Act] for data on nitrogen loads of agricultural companies. As these are environmental data, they must be made public. While the minister had previously decided to disclose the information, she revoked those decisions later on. These revocations are currently at stake in administrative law proceedings before the Council of State.
In summary proceedings, the civil court ruled that it could not deal with all the claims, since some belong in the administrative court. With the claim of Omroep Gelderland it was a different story: on 20 August 2025, the Court of Gelderland administrative-law sector had suspended the revocation of the disclosure decision. Omroep Gelderland then went to the Court of The Hague, claiming performance of the original publication decision.
The Court in summary proceedings allowed this claim and ordered the minister to disclose the data after all. The Court set great store by the journalistic provision of information, especially in the run-up to the October elections. The emission data are relevant to the public debate about nitrogen policy.
It is remarkable that the Court also imposed an order subject to a penalty in this case. This is not standard practice in cases against the State, but the Court held that it was justified here. The minister had failed to disclose the data for over a year, despite a formal decision to disclose them.
Moreover, it appeared from her statements at the hearing that she was not going to comply with the judgment voluntarily. The Court concluded that a financial incentive to enforce compliance was in order and chose a sizeable amount: €50,000 per day up to a maximum of €1 million.
This ruling underlines the importance of transparency and confirms that the Woo is a legally enforceable right.
Leon Mensink and Lotte Oranje represented the journalists in this case.
