Tijdschrift voor Agrarisch Recht - Volume 85, Issue 9, 2025

In December 2024, the Administrative Jurisdiction of the Council of State imposed strict rules on internal offsetting. In practice, this means that many new developments and projects are now stalled due to nitrogen. In order to give substance to the granting of permits, the province and the national government must draw up structural plans for nitrogen reduction. This article discusses the initiatives of the province of Gelderland in light of the revised framework for internal offsetting laid down in the case law of the Administrative Law Division. To this end, the revised framework is first explained (under II). Next, the policy for low-nitrogen strips is described (under III) and the new policy rules on internal offsetting are discussed (under IV). This is followed by a brief analysis of whether the granting of permits can indeed be resumed with the Gelderland measures (under V).

This article discusses the Supreme Court ruling of 28 March 2025 (ECLI:NL:HR:2025:467). The central question in this case was whether and to what extent an unauthorised government commitment can be attributed to the competent government body, in this case the municipal government. The judgment is intriguing because it was handed down at the dividing line between private and administrative law and the Supreme Court explicitly seeks to align itself with the case law of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State. The judgment is of great practical importance because the Supreme Court formulates an attribution criterion that must be applied in situations where the question arises as to whether and to what extent commitments and other actions of municipal officials and the municipal executive can be attributed to the municipal goverment. This puts an end to the uncertainty that existed in practice in this regard.