The Minister of Justice, Integration, Public Transport, and Energy, Mr. Drs. Arthur Dowers, announced during a press conference his new policy regarding the illegal use of electric vehicles such as E-Steps, E-Bikes, and E-Scooters on public roads. Alongside this announcement, Minister Dowers indicated that companies doing business with these vehicles would be given the opportunity to remove them from public spaces.
A few days after this public announcement, one of the operators became known to the Government when they filed a summary injunction (court case) against Minister Dowers’ policy. After nearly two weeks, on Thursday, April 29, authorities removed all unauthorized electric vehicles found explicitly on public land in the hotel area. The operator, through their lawyer, requested an “interim measure” (ordemaatregel) from the judge to recover the belongings that the authorities had taken “into custody” that morning.
Prior to the court case, no relevant authorities knew who was operating the large number of electric vehicles in public spaces, seeing as none of these vehicles are registered, insured, or have passed technical inspection—and they certainly do not have a permit to conduct business with them.
The decision by Minister of Justice Arthur Dowers to no longer tolerate the chaos permitted by the previous justice minister is not based on emotional sentiment, but on concrete laws and advice from a traffic safety commission that has been working on practical solutions since last year. This commission consists of legal experts from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Technical Inspection Department (DTI), the Department of Legislation and Legal Affairs (DWJZ), the Police Force, and officials from the Ministry of Justice.
While the judge issued a temporary decision to return the vehicles to the owner, the judge did not give the owner the “green light” to rent them out without further ado. The interim measure emphasized that authorities have the option to address users of these vehicles when they are on public roads, thereby shifting the responsibility to the user.
Despite this temporary decision, Minister Dowers stands firm in his resolve to bring order back to traffic and is awaiting the outcome of the summary proceedings scheduled for Friday, May 8. Together with experts from the traffic safety commission, work continues for the benefit of safety and order in traffic.
