Background Checks in the Netherlands: How the VOG System Works

A background check in the Netherlands is one thing with one name: the certificate of good conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, VOG). There is no market of competing screening reports an employer can buy, and no consumer file a candidate can order and hand over.

That single channel is a deliberate choice of the legislator. The Wet justitiële en strafvorderlijke gegevens (Wjsg) puts the judicial records in state hands, and lets exactly one authority, Justis, answer one narrow question about them: does anything here form an objection to this specific job.

This section maps that system. Which article does what, who decides, what it costs, and what happens when the answer is not the certificate the applicant hoped for.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

What a VOG actually declares

Artikel 28 Wjsg is worth reading closely, because almost every misunderstanding about the VOG comes from skipping it. A certificate of good conduct is a statement by the Minister that an investigation into the conduct of the person concerned, having regard to the risk to society in connection with the purpose for which issue was requested, and after weighing the interest of the person concerned, has not shown objections.

Three things sit inside that one sentence. The certificate is tied to a purpose, so it says nothing in the abstract; it is a risk judgment rather than a records extract; and the applicant's own interest is part of the test by statute rather than by grace.

That is why a VOG issued for a warehouse job is not evidence of anything about a role in childcare, and why the certificate carries no rating or score. What it does and does not disclose, and how the test runs in a real assessment, are set out on the Dutch certificate of good conduct.

Who does what

Justis, the screening authority (screeningsautoriteit) of the Ministry of Justice and Security, is the only body in the Netherlands that assesses VOG applications and issues the certificate. Rijksoverheid states this without qualification, and so does Justis.

The municipality (gemeente) has a real but limited role. Under artikel 30 Wjsg a paper application is filed with the mayor (burgemeester) of the gemeente where the applicant is registered in the population register (Basisregistratie Personen), who checks that the application is complete, establishes the applicant's identity, and forwards it to the Minister at once.

The employer or organisation that wants the certificate has no role in the decision at all. Its part is upstream: it sets the application up, and artikel 32 lid 3 Wjsg puts the duty of stating the risk to society at issue on the party for whose benefit the certificate is requested, which is what the screening profile (screeningsprofiel) encodes.

Nobody else is in the chain. That is the practical answer to a question a lot of applicants ask, which is whether a former employer or the police can block a certificate. They cannot; they can only supply information Justis may consult under artikel 36 Wjsg.

The statutory chain, artikel 28 to artikel 39 Wjsg

Afdeling 5 of the Wjsg runs the whole procedure in twelve articles, and reading them in order is the fastest way to understand where an application actually is.

Artikel 29 is the quiet load bearer. Once the decision is a beschikking, the whole of the Algemene wet bestuursrecht (Awb) attaches to it, which is where an applicant's procedural rights actually come from.

What it costs

Justis does not set the price. Artikel 39 Wjsg allows a fee, artikel 48 of the Besluit justitiële en strafvorderlijke gegevens makes payment a condition of assessment, and the amounts are fixed in the Regeling vergoeding verklaring omtrent het gedrag en gedragsverklaring aanbesteden, in force in this form since 1 July 2022.

For a natural person that means EUR 33.85 for an application filed electronically, EUR 41.35 in every other case including the paper route through the gemeente, and EUR 0.00 for a volunteer working with vulnerable people at an approved organisation. The paper route therefore costs EUR 7.50 more than the digital one for exactly the same certificate.

The full table, including the police data variant and the rate for a legal entity, and the conditions attached to the free volunteer rate, are on how to apply for a VOG. Justis also states there that no urgent procedure exists and that commercial parties charging extra to prepare an application gain the applicant nothing in speed or treatment.

A record in the judicial documentation does not decide the outcome

This is the single most useful thing to know before applying, and it is the thing most often stated backwards. Having an entry in the judicial documentation (justitiële documentatie) does not automatically block a certificate.

The assessment has two halves, and both of them are statutory rather than merely policy. Artikel 35 lid 1 Wjsg is the objective half: a refusal follows where the records show an offence that, if repeated, given the risk to society and the other circumstances of the case, would stand in the way of the purpose for which the certificate is sought.

Artikel 28 Wjsg supplies the other half, by requiring the decision to be taken after weighing the interest of the person concerned. The subjective criterion in the Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2025 works that weighing out, looking at how the case was disposed of, how much time has passed and how many antecedents there are, but it elaborates a test the Act already contains rather than adding one.

Artikel 35 lid 3 Wjsg pulls one category out entirely: offences disposed of by an irrevocable acquittal are not taken into account at all.

How each half is applied, what counts as an antecedent, and where a sharpened framework applies are on the Dutch certificate of good conduct. What is recorded in the first place, and for how long, is on Dutch criminal records and the JDS.

How far back Justis looks

The period Justis examines is the lookback period (terugkijktermijn). Paragraaf 3.1.1 of the Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2025 fixes it at four years as standard and departs from that only in the closed list of exceptions it names.

The screening profile does not set that length, and that is where most published summaries go wrong. The profile decides which offences are relevant to the role; the two meet only where a profile leads Justis to treat a role as carrying high integrity requirements, and that judgment is what moves the term from four years to ten.

The four year standard, every exception the policy rules name, the date each entry is measured by and a worked example are on VOG lookback periods.

When Justis intends to refuse

A refusal does not arrive out of nowhere. Where Justis is minded to decide against an application it issues a notice of intended refusal (voornemen tot afwijzen) first, which is why artikel 37 lid 2 Wjsg extends the decision period from four weeks to eight in exactly those cases.

The route from there is the ordinary administrative one, because artikel 29 Wjsg makes the decision a beschikking. Artikel 4:7 Awb gives the applicant a chance to put a point of view (zienswijze) before the rejection is made, and the notice states the period for responding.

If the refusal is then made final, artikel 7:1 Awb requires an objection (bezwaar) to Justis before any court, and artikel 6:7 Awb sets that period at six weeks, running from the day after the decision was announced under artikel 6:8 Awb. The same six weeks then applies at each stage after that.

The stages that follow, the appeal to the administrative court under artikelen 8:1 and 8:6 Awb and the further appeal to the Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State under artikel 8:105 lid 1 Awb, are set out on the Dutch certificate of good conduct.

What this section covers

Four pages carry the detail, and they split the topic along the lines most searches fall on.

How to apply for a VOG covers the mechanics: who starts the application, the digital and paper routes, the exceptions for self employed people, emigration and non residents, what it costs and how long it takes.

Certificate of good conduct covers the substance: what the certificate declares, what Justis reads, how the two part test works, and what an applicant can do about the answer.

VOG lookback periods works through the terugkijktermijn: the four year standard, the exceptions paragraaf 3.1.1 actually names, which date each entry is measured by, and a worked example carried through five variations.

Dutch criminal records and the JDS covers the register underneath all of it: what gets entered and when, how long it stays, and how to ask to see your own file.

Netherlands law gives the wider structure around this section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a VOG the same thing as a criminal record?

No, and the difference matters. The judicial records themselves sit in the Justitieel Documentatie Systeem (JDS), which is what people mean by a strafblad. A VOG is a decision by the Minister, defined in artikel 28 Wjsg, about whether anything in those records forms an objection to one specific function or purpose. Two people with identical records can get different answers for different jobs.

Who issues a VOG in the Netherlands?

Justis, the screening authority of the Ministry of Justice and Security, is the only body that assesses VOG applications and issues the certificate. Rijksoverheid states this plainly. A gemeente receives and forwards paper applications under artikel 30 Wjsg but takes no decision, and an employer chooses the screening profile without any say in the outcome.

What does a VOG cost in 2026?

The fee is fixed by the Regeling vergoeding verklaring omtrent het gedrag en gedragsverklaring aanbesteden, in force since 1 July 2022. It is EUR 33.85 for an application filed electronically with the Minister, EUR 41.35 in all other cases including a paper application through the gemeente, EUR 0.00 for a volunteer working with vulnerable people at an approved organisation, EUR 70.00 for the police data variant and EUR 207.00 for a legal entity.

Does a conviction mean the VOG is refused?

Not by itself. Artikel 35 Wjsg sets the objective test: refusal follows where an offence in the judicial records would, if repeated, obstruct proper performance of the function applied for given the risk to society. Artikel 28 Wjsg then requires the applicant's own interest to be weighed against that risk, so both halves of the test are statutory. The Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2025 work the weighing out, looking at how the case ended, how much time has passed, and how many antecedents there are.

How long does Justis take to decide?

Artikel 37 Wjsg gives four weeks from receipt for a natural person, extended to eight weeks where Justis intends to decide against the application. Justis itself says most applicants hear back within one to four weeks, that everyone hears something within one to eight weeks, and that processing time says nothing about the outcome. Volume or a data problem can push a straightforward file past four weeks too.

Can a refused VOG application be challenged?

Yes. Because artikel 29 Wjsg makes the decision a beschikking, the Awb route applies in full. Artikel 4:7 Awb requires Justis to let an applicant respond before refusing, artikel 6:7 Awb sets a six week period for lodging an objection (bezwaar), artikel 8:1 and artikel 8:6 Awb open an appeal to the administrative court after that, and artikel 8:105 Awb sends a further appeal to the Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State.