The Dutch House of Representatives has today appointed Reinier van Zutphen to the post of National Ombudsman of the Netherlands. The news was welcomed by the Acting and Deputy National Ombudsmen and the National Ombudsman Office. Van Zutphen is expected to be sworn in by the President of the House of Representatives by the end of March and he will be able to take up his duties as National Ombudsman soon after that.
Reinier van Zutphen (b. Wageningen, 1960) possesses extremely wide-ranging experience as a judge in Utrecht, The Hague, Almelo, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Curaçao and Alkmaar. He has also held top legal positions such as chairman of the Dutch Association for the Judiciary. His current post (since 2012) is as president of the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal.
The National Ombudsman of the Netherlands is an independent institution. Each year, the office receives over 36,000 complaints from individual citizens experiencing difficulties in their relations with government. Since the departure of Alex Brenninkmeijer on 31 December 2013, it has been headed by Acting National Ombudsman Frank van Dooren.
