Last Wednesday, the Cabinet announced its intention to impose a "curfew. The following day, the House of Representatives approved this measure. This curfew goes into effect tonight. From then on, it is in principle forbidden to be out of the house between 21:00 and 04:30. Violation of the curfew is punishable! How is this actually legal?

In these exceptional times, the Cabinet is pulling out special legal provisions. In principle, there must be a state of emergency to impose a curfew. Fortunately, such a state of emergency does not yet exist in the Netherlands. However, a curfew can also be imposed without a state of emergency, namely in "extraordinary circumstances. This is done by special "Royal Decree. More simply put, by a decision of the government. The curfew is based on the Extraordinary Powers of Civil Authority Act. Quite a mouthful. In a nutshell, this provision gives the authority to "restrict outdoor dwellings. The government is now using this as the basis for establishing the curfew. At the same time, it is a first: this is the first time the article has been used.

The involvement of the House of Representatives is not required for the initiation of a curfew. However, a bill must be introduced immediately to keep the curfew in effect. If this "extension bill" is not passed, the curfew will expire. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has already debated and agreed to the curfew.

If you do not fall under an exception, violating the curfew is punishable! Such violations can be severely punished. This is evidenced by the maximum penalty threats: six months of imprisonment or a fine of € 8700. However, the government has already announced that, in practice, the punishment will be a lot lower, namely a penalty order of €95. This will not put the offense on the "criminal record. The government and the police did indicate that they will enforce immediately.

Incidentally, the (false) preparation of one's own (employer's) statement is considered forgery. That is a crime and is punished more severely.