The Netherlands
The Ministry of Justice and Security is responsible for maintaining the rule of law in the Netherlands, so that people can live together in freedom, regardless of their life-style or views. The Ministry is working towards a safer, more just society by giving people legal protection and, where necessary, intervening in their lives. We sometimes have to take radical measures: divesting parents of parental responsibility, for example, or putting convicted criminals in prison. We also give people new prospects: for example, we help prisoners return to society and provide support for victims of crime. These are all measures that only the Ministry of Justice and Security is entitled to take. As part of the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) is responsible for the implementation of immigration policy in the Netherlands. This means that the IND assesses all applications submitted by foreign nationals who wish to stay in the Netherlands or who wish to become Dutch nationals. These can be refugees who are under threat in their own country, or persons who wish to work and live in the Netherlands. They also include people who have lived in the Netherlands for so long that they feel Dutch and officially want to become Dutch nationals. In this roll IND is responsible for the development and issuing of (e)documents for third country nationals. Document and Identity Investigation Office BDOC: Reliable identity papers are an important factor in the decision process. Document experts and document researchers of the Document and Identity Investigation Office (BDOC) are certified at the highest level in the Netherlands and are able to assess the authenticity of breeder documents quickly and accurately. To support our investigation we developed the DISCS information system. Our clients are the IND, Dutch municipalities, embassies, investigative services and many organizations in other countries. BDOC is based in Zwolle and consists of two teams, research and expertise documents and team management documents. Our ambition is to remain a leader in the field of breeder documents as an international expert agency. We invest in the digitization of our reference material and tactical information. Internationally, BDOC is affiliated with various partnerships, both globally and in a European context. Global within ICAO, Interpol and customer council DISCS including Australia the United States of America and Canada; In the context of the EU, we work on joint fact-finding missions and information exchange with the EU member states, contribute document expertise to EASO, IFADO, FRONTEX, BST and in the context of Relocation. But we also work as document experts in the EDEWG, a European platform for document research, and quality circles. In the longer term, BDOC is collaborating internationally on, the ICAO and EU projects towards the standardization of breeder documents in order to simplify identity control and security.