Article 42: Ministerial responsibility

Please note: Only the Dutch-language version of the Constitution has legal effect. 

The King and the ministers together form the government. An important principle of our constitutional system is that the King is inviolable and that the ministers are responsible. This means that they, and not the King, are responsible for government policy and must account for it in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Political ministerial responsibility has been laid down in the Constitution since 1848. However, rules regarding ministerial responsibility do exist in unwritten constitutional law. For instance, a minister must have the confidence of the House of Representatives. As soon as he loses this confidence, for example because the House of Representatives adopts a motion of no confidence, a minister submits his resignation.

Criminal ministerial responsibility has been included in the Constitution since 1840 and was elaborated by an Act in 1855. That Act was amended and renamed in 2018. Its title is now Wet ministeriële verantwoordelijkheid en ambtsdelicten leden Staten-Generaal, ministers en staatssecretarissen.