Marjet van Zuijlen, burger@overheid’s chairperson and former member of the Dutch government’s Second Chamber, is reportedly tired of government authorities not replying to e-mail, and considers a timely response something decent and not unreasonable.
Another Dutch advisory group, Advies Overheid.nl, reported at the end of January that government does not take the internet seriously enough. Despite many authorities running their own websites, many of these do not even fulfil the minimum requirements. Furthermore, many authorities are reluctant to change their officious attitude - something essential to successful e-Government.
These complaints seem to confirm the findings of a global study on e-Government by the consultancy Accenture. Its report concludes that the Dutch government needs a sound policy on e-Government and a prioritised and more-focused implementation.
On the positive side, there are those in government who do take the electronic form of communication seriously. The Ministry of the Interior, for example, is implementing the Digital Preservation Testbed programme, whose goal is to ensure the availability, accessibility and reliability of electronic information in government.
Useful links
- Links by Country
- De Telefoongids
- De Nationale telefoongids
- De Gouden Gids
- Startpagina
- Statistics Netherlands
