openlaws.eu: Case study 4: Netherlands

It is clear that there are forces challenging the status quo of the current legal information market. New initiatives are being adopted, of which OpenLaws is one, and experts predict an upcoming paradigm shift. In that sense, for the informed observer, the Netherlands is possibly one of most interesting countries to analyse at this moment. It is a pioneer in the open (legal) data movement, enjoys a solid network of universities for a country its size, has a long-standing history of embracing professional publishing houses (e.g. Kluwer, Elsevier) who have started developing new business models, and has generally sophisticated users who are keen to experiment with new models (e.g. digital library licensing etc). Of course, high penetration of cable broadband and uptake of 4G mobile technology has vastly contributed to the digitalisation of legal information for the public at large. ..