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e-Citizen Charter
Burger@overheid.nl (e-Citizen Programme)
Netherlands

The Problem

The e-Citizen Charter, as developed by the Dutch e-Citizen Programme Burger@Overheid, is both a form of encouragement as well as a boost for the many initiatives in the e-Government field. Essential is the actual focus on the role of citizens as partners in the development of e-Government. Important factor is that the ten quality requirements as formulated in the Charter have come about after extensive consultation.
Since 2006 the ten requirements can be found in important policy papers and agreements on e-Government in the Netherlands. Quite recently the OECD recommended that Dutch government should make more use of the e-Citizen Charter in the development of E-Government. Trend is that the e-Citizen Charter is used more and more by government authorities - national, regional and local – as a way of making citizens the basic principle of e-Government policy. The importance of this approach is huge, not in the least because the perspective of citizens is too often overlooked.
Meanwhile the e-Citizen Charter has become so important that in 2007 the possibility will be examined if and how the Charter can become an actual e-Government policy standard for quality requirements. This fact alone indicates the status of the e-Citizen Charter. Recognition from an important organisation as the UN would be an extra incentive for really bringing e-Government to citizens.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The aim of the Dutch e-Government policy is to improve information exchange, service delivery and interactive participation by introducing a new partnership between citizen and government. This is to be achieved by giving more responsibility and choice to citizens. As far as the Dutch cabinet is concerned, the required empowerment is being supported by ICTs. To help citizens in their new role, an instrument has been developed: the so called e-Citizen Charter. This is a code of conduct consisting of 10 quality requirements. This charter was developed by the e-Citizen Programme, and is being adopted as a standard by Dutch government. It is the guiding principle in a national convention to stimulate e-Government signed by representatives of all tiers of government. The national interoperability framework also states the charter as a goal. Moreover the charter is being applied for awarding good practices. By stating their rights in a concise way, the charter empowers citizens. Thus external pressure can be build up by customers, which will stimulate existing internal drivers for change. By creating awareness and promoting take up, the charter will help boost e-Government.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The e-Citizen Charter is first of all based on research into existing quality systems and several surveys of citizen’s expectations. With the help of Tilburg University, national and international views were gathered. The findings were consolidated and presented for public scrutiny in 2004. At the beginning of 2005, a version 1.0 of the charter was introduced. On the basis of the many comments and suggestions received, an improved version 2.1 has been drafted at the end of 2005.
In November 2005 the charter was presented to the Dutch minister for Government Reform, who hailed it as a “gift” form citizens to government which should serve as a reference model for all government bodies and agencies. The e-Citizen Programme proclaimed 2006 as the Year of the e-Citizen Charter and distributed nationwide an illustrated Calendar 2006.
Since then the charter has gradually gained more acceptation. The National Ombudsman has announced to adopt the charter as part of his evaluation principles. The charter is taken as a guiding principle in the so-called NORA (translated as: Netherlands Government Reference Architecture), which is the basis for national interoperability standards on e-Government. On the occasion of municipal elections in March 2006 it has been widely circulated in election programmes.
Moreover on April 18th 2006 a national convention was signed by representatives of all tiers of government (state, provinces, municipalities and waterboards) to stimulate e-Government. The declaration agreed upon takes the e-Citizen Charter as the guiding principle for citizen centred government. The convention was signed by the minister of Government Reform, the chairman of the Union of Provinces, the chairman of the Union of Local Authorities and the chairman of the Union of Waterboards. Subsequently the charter is going to be incorporated in a new Good Governance Programme for the public sector. Finally on April 26th 2006 the annual Dutch e-Government Award 2006 was given to the city of Amsterdam, because it applied the charter the best. All 10 nominees have committed themselves explicitly to the charter, amongst whom the Chairman of the Dutch Senate, the Minister of Health and Care, the Mayor of the city of The Hague. EU-commissoner Wallström, one of the nominees (for the website Europe Direct) also expressed support for the charter.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The charter has been developed by the e-Citizen Programme in the Netherlands. This is an independent platform which stimulates the development of e-government from the citizen’s point of view. To that end it involves citizens, advises government bodies and monitors progress. Apart from developing the e-Citizen Charter, it regularly conducts surveys with its own e-Citizen Panel and annually grants the e-Government Award for good practices.
The programme is hosted by ICTU, the Dutch implementation organization for ICT and government. A Steering Committee representing citizen’s interest groups supervises the proceedings. More information is to be found on www.burger.overheid.nl

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The use of citizen charters originates from the UK, where they were introduced in the 1980s to safeguard the quality of privatized services. Nowadays, some Dutch municipalities use citizen charters or service standards. Most of these charters confine themselves to service delivery. They describe quality standards for information provision, waiting periods, accessibility or the service itself. Citizen charters do not pay much attention to other aspects of government like politics, regulation, law enforcement and the development of public services. Another limitation of these existing charters is that they ignore the development of e-Government practices. General quality standards for service delivery are not always suitable for the particular opportunities and difficulties of online service delivery. Probably, this applies also for online political participation and other online contacts with government.
The development of an e-Citizen Charter is rather new. Even in countries that walk in front of e-Goverment developments (according to benchmark-studies: Singapore, Canada and the Scandinavian countries) citizen charters on the quality of e-Government could not be found. Neither in the private sector are there any appealing examples of citizen charters for online services. Insurance companies, banks, telecom providers, internet service providers and other e-business corporations often have a code of conduct, but this never proclaims quality standards. Surprisingly, most rules and regulations concern the customer’s behaviour and are hardly about the conduct of the business or organization.
Unlike former citizen’s charters, the present charter is deliberately written from the citizens’ perspective. It is user centered, addresses the major e-Government topics and consists of quality requirements for digital contacts including both citizen’s rights as well as governmental responsibilities. This is not to say that a citizen has no duties. A citizen is not only a customer of services, but also a subject of law, a user of provisions and a participant in policy-making. The charter is meant for both citizen and government. It allows citizens to call their government to account for the quality of digital services. Government can use the charter to examine external quality of its public performance.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The e-Citizen Charter has from the start been conceived of as model to be further developed via an open procedure. This was done by publishing it as a workbook that invites thinking, in stead of a manual that should only be studied. The current personal workbook (which is available in several formats, including an online version) allows the owner to write down his or her remarks and criticism. The contributions of about 500 persons from different backgrounds have been used to create version 2.1. An online text is to be consulted via the deeplink www.archief.burger.overheid.nl/burgerservicecode.

Dutch e-Government policy stipulates that each government agency should have a service delivery charter by the end of 2008. The present charter aims to be a national standard for those quality charters. In its present form it is being adopted as such on the national level and the local level. Pilot projects are being done by IB-Groep (student grants), provincial ICT-policymaking (Province of Drenthe) and municipal communication (town of Heiloo).

The charter consists of 10 quality requirements, formulated as follows:
1. Choice of Channel - As a citizen I can choose for myself which way to interact with government. Government ensures multi channel service delivery, i.e. the availability of all communication channels: counter, letter, phone, e-mail, internet.
2. Transparent Public Sector - As a citizen I know where to apply for official information and public services. Government guaranties one-stop-shop service delivery and acts as one seamless entity with no wrong doors.
3. Comprehensive Rights and Duties - As a citizen I know which services I am entitled to under which conditions. Government ensures that my rights and duties are at all times transparent.
4. Personalized Information - As a citizen I am entitled to information that is complete, up to date and consistent. Government supplies appropriate information tailored to my needs.
5. Convenient Services - As a citizen I can choose to provide personal data once and to be served in a proactive way. Government makes clear what records it keeps about me and does not use data without my consent.
6. Comprehensive Procedures - As a citizen I can easily get to know how government works and monitor progress. Government keeps me informed of procedures I am involved in by way of tracking and tracing.
7. Trust and Reliability - As a citizen I presume government to be electronically competent. Government guarantees secure identity management and reliable storage of electronic documents.
8. Considerate Administration - As a citizen I can file ideas for improvement and lodge complaints. Government compensates for mistakes and uses feedback information to improve its products and procedures.
9. Accountability and Benchmarking - As a citizen I am able to compare, check and measure government outcome. Government actively supplies benchmark information about its performance.
10. Involvement and Empowerment - As a citizen I am invited to participate in decision-making and to promote my interests. Government supports empowerment and ensures that the necessary information and instruments are available.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
In about one and a half years’ time, the charter has become a kind of “ten commandments for e-Government” which cover the whole range of contacts. These 10 requirements can be divided in four categories: requirement number 1 deals with the basic principle of access; requirements number 2, 3, 4 deal with information; requirements number 5 ,6 ,7 deal with interaction; and requirements number 8, 9, 10 deal with participation. A recent survey in the Netherlands concluded that from the citizens’ point of view the top three were: number 2 (transparency), 7 (trust) and 5 (convenience).

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The charter summarizes a general future view on government as a whole. It is not meant to dictate strict conformity but should be adaptable to different government levels and policy areas. Administrations should decide themselves which requirements they can meet now and which they will meet in the future. Citizens will request why this is the case. By building up external pressure form customers, the charter can stimulate internal drivers for change. It creates awareness and helps take up, and thus can boost e-Government. At present the charter is not mandatory, but is based on the principle: Comply or Explain. In the foreseeable future, the charter might be turned into a benchmarking system or even quality mark.
Apart from lectures, articles and interviews in the Netherlands, the charter was promoted via international meetings: Sevilla (7th Framework Research Programme, October 2005), Ljubljana (eChallenges, October 2005), Seoul (Global Symposium on eGovernment, November 2005), Hannover (Abschlusstagung Interaktiver Landschaftsplannung, April 2006), Prague (MODINIS Interoperability workshop, April 2006), Barcelona (eChallenges, October 2006) and Athens (EKKDA symposium, December 2006).

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Although conceived of in the Netherlands, the Dutch e-Citizen Charter can easily be adapted and implemented in other countries. Internationally the idea of a charter attracts much attention, as many countries face the problem of rapid technological development of the one hand and stagnating use of electronic services on the other hand. An e-charter, by clarifying mutual ambitions and expectations, can help to increase awareness and drive take up of e-channels. By supplementing internal drivers for change with external pressure by stakeholders
At present there are no similar initiatives, with the exception of a project by Eurocities (www.eurocities.org). However this has the form of unilateral declaration which moreover is done by cities only.

In the European Union and in the Memberstates citizen centricity is becoming more and more at the core of policy aims. The positive effect of this endeavor is that each institution is putting the citizen at the center. The negative effect is that each institution is doing this in its own way. This amounts to the citizen being put in the center in many different, sometimes even conflicting way.
The present charter can serve as a reference model for development, in that it both provides guidelines for interaction design (input) and also for evaluating e-products and results (output). At the same time it is flexible and adaptable to different circumstances. A common standard is al the more inevitable when government agencies are going to provide seamless services in one-stop-shop models or interdependent and integrated chain services. Without it there will be no interoperability in the back office and no harmonization of service levels or complaints procedures in the front office.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Burger@overheid.nl (e-Citizen Programme)
Institution Type:   Other  
Contact Person:   Matt Poelmans
Title:   Director  
Telephone/ Fax:   +31 708887868
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   matt.poelmans@ictu.nl  
Address:   Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg 104
Postal Code:   2595 AN
City:   The Hague
State/Province:  
Country:   Netherlands

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