Although the way in which announcements are published changes, this does not apply to the necessity to summon citizens in public. For this is the best means to inform persons who cannot be reached at a known address. However, this has to be done in a modern and effective manner. Examples of such citizens are persons on whom a bailiff has to serve a summons within the context of civil proceedings. Other examples include persons who are requested to be committed for failure to pay traffic or other fines. Moreover, parties involved in application proceedings, such as parents who must be heard on a care and supervision order in respect of their child or children, but who failed to appear at the proceedings, will soon be summoned via the digital Government Gazette.
The digital Government Gazette is a logical choice. Mobile and fixed-line internet have a larger range than paper newspapers and can be accessed by anyone at public places. This will increase chances that citizens having no known domicile or residence will actually read a summons to appear at a hearing. Research conducted by bailiffs shows that people do not or hardly respond to messages in (paper) daily newspapers.
The Government Gazette is published by the government, no subscription is required. Citizens can consult the information free of charge. This is a big advantage compared to (paper) daily newspapers, which people often need to buy first. Citizens may also be notified by e-mail of any announcements stating their own initial(s) and surname, for example.
A person having no known domicile or residence will be given four months' time to take note of an announcement in the Government Gazette. After this period, the publication can still be found in the Government Gazette, but it will no longer be possible to search by name. For reasons of privacy, Minister Opstelten does not want the period for searching by name to be unnecessarily long, but long enough to summon persons to proceedings.
A calculation done by the bailiffs shows that the measure will result in annual savings of almost 11 million euros in advertising costs. Before the act will enter into force, there will be a publicity campaign that will inform the public of the changes to the manner of publications.
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