ⒾMachine translations by Deepl

Senate rejects bill Wtmo

Bill that harmed nonprofits and civil society is off the table

On 24 March, the Senate passed the ‘transparency and countering undermining by civil society organisations‘ (Wtmo) rejected.

This is good news for the nonprofit sector, now that that bill was based on incorrect assumptions about nonprofit organisations.

Untenable bill without support

Ever since the very first draft of the Wtmo bill in 2019, Privacy First has actively opposed it. To this end, in recent years Privacy First urged the House of Representatives and the Senate to reject the bill. After years of delays (partly due to privacy concerns), an amended version of the bill was finally passed by the Lower House on 1 April 2025, followed by consideration in the Senate. A Privacy First representative then spoke at an expert meeting organised by the Senate J&V Committee on 25 November 2025. During that meeting, it became clear to everyone how many flaws were still attached to the bill. Even those who were supposed to implement the law, the mayors and the public prosecutor, were of the opinion that they could not perform the tasks under the Wtmo. Then, on 17 March last, was the plenary debate in the Senate in which a majority of MPs voiced a lot of criticism of the bill. It was therefore no surprise that the bill was rejected on 24 March last.

Privacy First is pleased that the Wtmo is finally off the table.

It is to be hoped that the Ministry of Justice & Security will not come up with another proposal that would disadvantage the large group of well-intentioned nonprofit organisations. After all, the threats to the Dutch rule of law have nothing to do with nonprofits.

More information:

Previous Privacy First articles on the Wtmo: