The Dutch universities attach to having a proper and coherent integrity policy and, as part of this, a proper procedure for reporting suspected malpractice regard to the Whistleblowers Protection Act and the EU Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (Directive EU 2019/1937), which aim to improve the possibilities of reporting suspected malpractice that is of public interest and to better protect the reporting person from prejudice. Therefore, the Dutch Universities Sectoral Regulation on Reporting Suspected Malpractice was adopted as of 1 January 2025. It forms part of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) as laid down in Article J.6 of the CAO-NU and applies to all universities and the collective bargaining followers.

The purpose of the Sectoral Regulation on Reporting Suspected Malpractice is therefore to offer legal protection to the employees and students concerned and also to “any natural person who, in the context of his work-related activities, reports or discloses a suspicion of malpractice. Specifically, this means that individuals who perform activities for the university on another basis, such as self-employed persons, volunteers, interns, job applicants, contractors and suppliers, among others, may also report a suspicion of malpractice to the university. By doing so, the university wants to have the opportunity to seriously investigate a possible malpractice within the organisation.