Introduction

Ordering a permit from your Municipality or Province by using your home PC. Examining Land registry data online when hunting for a new house. Accessing government services online with your own unique digital identifier (DigID), or using it to contact your doctor who uses his own personal PKI identifier to access your confidential electronic patient file. These are but a few examples. Some are a reality; others are even now in development. The electronic government is already a fact and a hive of activity.

The Dutch Cabinet wishes to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve the standard of service to the business community and the general public. The use of ICT for such public administration purposes is often referred to as ‘the Electronic Government’ or simply ‘e-Government’.

The information on this site is primarily aimed towards leading officials, decision makers, and (policy-level) civil servants who wish to learn more about e-government. Moreover, the Atlas and reference architecture section of the website, which contains details of the interoperability and infrastructure of e-government, may also be of interest to ICT specialists.
This English section is available for anyone interested in learning about the development of e-government in the Netherlands.