KNB Congress: 'There is an urgent need to tackle undermining together'

Undermining and the gatekeeper role of the notary. This topic was central to the plenary opening of the Royal Dutch Notary Association (KNB) conference "The Power of Resilience" on Friday, October 7th, at the MECC in Maastricht. Annerie Ploumen, chair of the Royal Dutch Notary Association (KNB), and Maaike van Tuyll, director of undermining at the Ministry of Justice and Security (J&V), discussed this topic. Before an audience of 900 participants, Ploumen called for more tools to effectively fulfill this gatekeeper role.

In the discussion, moderated by Rick Nieman, Van Tuyll indicated that the ministry fully understands the situation civil-law notaries sometimes find themselves in. Nevertheless, reporting unusual transactions remains crucial: "You do it to keep the financial system, of which the notary profession is also a part, clean. So you're not just doing it for the Ministry of Justice and Security, but also for yourself." To further support the notary profession, the ministry wants to improve the so-called "feedback loop." Feedback on the actions taken will not be provided for each individual report, but on a more general basis. This will make trends more visible and allow civil-law notaries to learn from them.
During the meeting, the KNB and J&V both emphasized the importance of working together to combat undermining. Ploumen: "Of course, each agency has its own role, but we must enable each other to do our work effectively."

Social support
In the opening plenary session, neuroscientist Victor Kallen gave a keynote address on the impact of stress experienced during intimidation or threats. According to Kallen, it's crucial to proactively seek social support in such a situation. "Operating alone doesn't help alleviate stress." He also understands that it's very difficult for a notary experiencing pressure to file a report. "You're asking someone to escalate, while a victim usually prefers not to."

Gaining knowledge and experience
After lunch, Lokke Moerel gave a lecture on digital resilience. She addressed the European trend toward greater digital sovereignty and how the Netherlands can ensure we maintain control over our democracy, the rule of law, and economic innovation system without lapsing into protectionism. Crime journalist John van den Heuvel concluded the day. He shared his years of experience with undermining and how it works. This raised many questions from the participants. Between the plenary lectures, participants were able to gain knowledge and experience in 11 different breakout sessions.