Ministry of Economic Affairs (Netherlands)

Ministry of Economic Affairs

Ministerie van Economische Zaken
Coat of arms of the Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs
Department overview
Formed	August 17, 1905 (1905-08-17)
Jurisdiction	Kingdom of the Netherlands
Headquarters	Bezuidenhoutseweg 73, The Hague, Netherlands
Annual budget	€4,7 billion (2013)
Minister responsible	Henk Kamp, Minister of Economic Affairs
Deputy Minister responsible	Martijn van Dam, State Secretary for Economic Affairs
Website	Ministry of Economic Affairs

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (Dutch: Ministerie van Economische Zaken; EZ) is the Dutch Ministry responsible for Economics, Industry, Mining, Trade, Energy policy, Agriculture, Fishery and Tourism. The Ministry was created in 1905 as the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and had several name changes before it became the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1946, from 2010 until 2012 it was renamed the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation when the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality was merged into the Ministry, since 2012 it is again called the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Economic Affairs, currently Henk Kamp.

Mission

The mission of the Ministry is to "promote sustainable economic growth in the Netherlands." It focuses on the key areas of "Knowledge economy and innovation," "Competition and dynamic" and "Room to do business."

Organization

The political responsible of the ministry is in hands of the Minister of Economic Affairs who is part of the Dutch Cabinet. A State Secretary is at the Minister's side, internationally called the Minister for Agriculture.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has also a civil service department, led by the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General. The Ministry of Economic Affairs consists of four Directorates-General: Foreign Economic Relations, Economic Policy, Energy and Telecom, and Enterprise and Innovation. There are also some support departments. The former Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has a somewhat different structure. The structure of the Ministry of Economic Affairs is yet to be determined.

One Independent Administrative Agencies which is independently ran are also part of the Ministry: Statistics Netherlands. Seven agencies of the Ministry are:

• Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands
• EVD
• Netherlands Patent Office
• SenterNovem
• State Supervision of Mines
• CPB
• Authority for Consumers and Markets

See also

• List of Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands

External links

• (Dutch) Ministerie van Economisch Zaken (Rijksoverheid)