Filing an objection
The AFM is an administrative body which is subject to the provisions in the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht, “Awb”). You can freely view or download the text of the Awb from the government website: www.wetten.nl.
The Awb provides legal protection against decisions within the meaning of the Act, although not every decision is open to appeal by everyone.
Interested party
Accessing proceedings under administrative law is constrained not only through the ‘definition of decision’ but also by the definition of what constitutes an ‘interested party’. An interested party is defined as: a party whose interests are directly involved in a decision. An applicant for a licence is an interested party, for example, since they are the party to whom the decision is addressed. Parties other than the party to whom the decision is addressed, such as the executive director of a securities institution, can also be interested parties, however.
If the AFM is of the opinion that an executive director’s propriety is no longer beyond doubt, it will issue the securities institution with an instruction involving the “dismissal” of the director in question. As the decision is made on the basis of an opinion on that individual, they also qualify as an interested party, more specifically an ‘interested third party’. The individual concerned may challenge the decision which affects them. If the AFM withdraws an institution’s licence due to a lack of equity capital, for example, the executive director is not then an interested third party.