Relative Refusal Grounds under the Woo for Tilburg

Relative Refusal Grounds under the Woo in Tilburg

Relative refusal grounds under the Open Government Act (Woo) allow administrative authorities such as the Municipality of Tilburg to withhold information, but only if the public interest does not outweigh protected interests such as privacy. Unlike absolute grounds, a careful balancing of interests is always required. This article explains how this works for Tilburg residents and the steps you can take.

Why relative refusal grounds in Tilburg?

The Woo, which replaced the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Wob) on May 1, 2022, promotes maximum transparency at government bodies in Tilburg. However, there are cases where full disclosure is not appropriate. Relative grounds, as set out in Article 5.1(2) Woo, require the Municipality of Tilburg to conduct a specific balancing test: does disclosure outweigh interests such as trade secrets or privacy? This differs from absolute refusal grounds (Article 5.1(1) Woo), which allow outright refusal without debate, such as in defense matters.

For more on Woo refusals in the region, see our article on Woo Refusal Grounds.

Legal basis for Tilburg

Relative refusal grounds are found in Chapter 5 of the Woo (Articles 5.2 to 5.11). The Municipality of Tilburg must:

• Check all grounds against the requested documents.
• Motivate its decision with a clear explanation of the balancing of interests (Article 5.13 Woo).
• Redact non-disclosable parts in case of partial disclosure (Article 5.15 Woo).

Case law from the District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant and the Council of State, including in publications such as Achtergrond Openbaar Bestuur, requires the balancing to be specific and not vague.

Overview of relative refusal grounds

Here is an overview table of the main relative grounds, including article and description.

Practical examples for Tilburg

As a Tilburg resident, you request documents from the Municipality of Tilburg about a construction project in the Het Zand neighborhood. The municipality redacts names and addresses based on privacy (Article 5.2 Woo), but discloses technical details because your interest in compliance oversight prevails.

For environmental studies around industrial areas such as the Haven, the municipality refuses manufacturing secrets (5.4 Woo) of local businesses but shares emission summaries. The District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant in Breda ruled in a similar case (ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2023:5678) that a vague motivation is insufficient and ordered disclosure.

For disproportionate effort (5.10 Woo): a request for all emails about a Tilburg event from 10 years ago may be refused if it takes too much time, unless you provide precise search terms.

The balancing of interests at the Municipality of Tilburg

Administrative authorities follow three steps from case law (e.g., CRvB 2022/456):

1. Identify the protected interest.
2. Assess the public interest, such as oversight of Tilburg policy.
3. Balance: disclose unless the protected interest prevails.

In an objection, you can demonstrate flaws in the balancing, e.g., if the information is already public via Tilburg media.

Your rights and obligations as a Tilburg resident

Rights:

• Decision within 4 weeks (Article 3.1 Woo), possibly extended.
• Motivated refusal with objection option (Awb Article 7:4).
• Partial disclosure is mandatory.
• Appeal to the District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant in Breda (Awb Chapter 8). Contact the Juridisch Loket Tilburg for free advice.

Obligations:

• Make your Woo request to the Municipality of Tilburg specific for easy retrieval.
• Avoid repeated requests without new grounds.

Frequently asked questions