Dutch Law MCP Server

Dutch Law MCP Server

The Dutch law corpus is now served through the Ansvar Gateway. Connect your AI assistant (Claude, Copilot, Cursor, custom MCP client) to https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp — one OAuth connection, free tier available, covering this corpus plus EU regulations, national law across 28 audited jurisdictions, and CVE/security intelligence, every result with a verbatim source citation. Start at https://ansvar.eu/docs/quickstart

Connect

Claude Code (one line):

claude mcp add ansvar --transport http https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor — add to claude_desktop_config.json (or mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ansvar": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude.ai — Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp

First request opens an OAuth signup flow (setup details: ansvar.eu/docs/quickstart). After signup, your client is bound to your account; tier (free / premium / team / company) determines fan-out, quota, and which downstream MCPs are reachable.

Self-host this MCP

You can also clone this repo and build the corpus yourself. The schema,fetcher, and tool implementations all live here. What is not in the repo isthe pre-built database — TDM and standards-licensing constraints on theupstream sources mean we host the corpus on Ansvar infrastructure ratherthan redistribute it as a public artifact.

Build your own: run this repo's ingestion script (entry-point varies perrepo — typically scripts/ingest.sh, npm run ingest, or make ingest;check the repo root).

The Wetten.overheid.nl alternative for the AI age.

Query 3,251 Dutch statutes -- from the AVG and Wetboek van Strafrecht to the Burgerlijk Wetboek, Mededingingswet, and the full BWB corpus -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Dutch legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

Why This Exists

Dutch legal research is scattered across Wetten.overheid.nl, Rechtspraak.nl, Kamerstukken, and EUR-Lex. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations in a brief or contract
• A compliance officer checking AVG obligations or Mededingingswet requirements
• A legal tech developer building tools on Dutch law
• A researcher tracing legislative history from Kamerstukken to wet

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Dutch law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

Quick Start

Dutch Law is reachable through the Ansvar MCP Gateway at https://gateway.ansvar.eu. The gateway terminates OAuth, fans queries out across the Dutch corpus, and returns citation-grounded answers. There is no public unauthenticated endpoint.

Connect via Ansvar Gateway

Sign up at gateway.ansvar.eu for a Premium / Team / Company tier account, then point your client at the gateway:

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ansvar-gateway": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add ansvar-gateway --transport http https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "ansvar-gateway": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://gateway.ansvar.eu/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The gateway authenticates via Keycloak OAuth 2.1 with Dynamic Client Registration. On first connect your client will open a browser tab for sign-in and consent.

Run Locally (Docker)

For development or air-gapped deployments, the GHCR image ships with the prebuilt SQLite database baked in:

docker run --rm -p 3009:3009 ghcr.io/ansvar-systems/dutch-law-mcp:latest

The image self-tests via the bundled HEALTHCHECK and exits non-zero if the database is missing. Watchtower-driven fleets get automatic rolling updates on every push to main.

Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally in Dutch or English:

• "Wat zegt de AVG artikel 5 over de beginselen voor de verwerking van persoonsgegevens?"
• "Is de Mededingingswet artikel 24 over misbruik van machtspositie nog van kracht?"
• "Zoek bepalingen over gegevensbescherming in de Nederlandse wet"
• "Welke EU-richtlijnen implementeert de AVG?"
• "Valideer de citatie 'Wetboek van Strafrecht artikel 138b'"
• "Bouw een juridisch standpunt op over privacyrecht in Nederland"
• "What does Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 6 say about contractual liability?"
• "Find provisions about trade secrets in Dutch law"

What's Included

Key Statutes Covered

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources (Wetten.overheid.nl, Overheid.nl). Zero LLM-generated content.

See It In Action

Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from Wetten.overheid.nl official sources via the BWB API
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains regulation text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by BWB identifier + chapter/article
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

Wetten.overheid.nl BWB API → Parse → SQLite → FTS5 snippet() → MCP response
                                ↑                      ↑
                       Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional: Search Wetten.overheid.nl → Open BWB page → Navigate articles → Check Kamerstukken → EUR-Lex for EU basis → Repeat

This MCP: "What EU law is the basis for AVG artikel 5 about data processing principles?" → Done.

Available Tools (15)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

EU Law Integration Tools (5)

History & Metadata Tools (2)

EU Law Integration

Netherlands is a founding EU member state. Dutch law directly transposes EU directives across the full acquis communautaire.

Dutch Law and EU Directives

• AVG (GDPR) -- GDPR is directly applicable in the Netherlands. The Uitvoeringswet AVG implements the member-state derogations and supplements. The get_eu_basis tool links AVG provisions to the underlying GDPR articles.
• ePrivacy Directive -- transposed via the Telecommunicatiewet, governing electronic communications and cookie consent.
• Competition law -- Mededingingswet aligns with EU Treaty Articles 101 (cartels) and 102 (abuse of dominance) and Commission enforcement practice.
• Trade Secrets Directive -- implemented by Wet bescherming bedrijfsgeheimen (2018).
• Financial regulation -- Wet op het financieel toezicht (Wft) transposes MiFID II, the Capital Requirements Directive, and related EU financial services directives.

The EU bridge tools provide bi-directional lookup: start from a Dutch provision to find its EU basis, or start from an EU directive to find its Dutch implementation.

See EU_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md for detailed documentation.

Premium Tier

The free tier includes all 77,531 provisions with full-text search and EU cross-references. The premium tier adds case law, preparatory works, and version history.

Premium case law covers decisions from the Hoge Raad (Supreme Court), Gerechtshoven (Courts of Appeal), and Rechtbanken (District Courts) sourced from Rechtspraak.nl.

Premium preparatory works covers Kamerstukken (parliamentary documents), memorie van toelichting (explanatory memoranda), and other preparatory materials from Overheid.nl.

Premium is enabled via PREMIUM_ENABLED=true environment variable. Contact [email protected] for access.

Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Dutch legal databases:

• Wetten.overheid.nl -- Official consolidated statutes, Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid
• Rechtspraak.nl -- Official court decisions database
• Overheid.nl -- Official government publications portal
• EUR-Lex -- Official EU law database (metadata)

Data Provenance

Automated Freshness Checks (Daily)

A daily GitHub Actions workflow monitors all data sources:

Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from official Wetten.overheid.nl publications. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is limited -- do not rely solely on this for case law research
• Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
• EU cross-references are extracted from Dutch statute text and EUR-Lex metadata, not full EU law text
• Municipal and provincial legislation is not included -- this covers national (rijks) legislation only

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | PRIVACY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters (including attorney-client privilege under the Wet op de rechtsbijstand), use on-premise deployment. See PRIVACY.md for guidance on use in Dutch legal practice.

Documentation

• EU Integration Guide -- Detailed EU cross-reference documentation
• EU Usage Examples -- Practical EU lookup examples
• Security Policy -- Vulnerability reporting and scanning details
• Disclaimer -- Legal disclaimers and professional use notices
• Privacy -- Client confidentiality and data handling

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Dutch-law-mcp
cd Dutch-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server (stdio)
npm run dev:http                                  # Start HTTP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest                   # Ingest statutes from Wetten.overheid.nl BWB API
npm run ingest:all               # Full corpus ingest
npm run ingest:cases             # Ingest case law from Rechtspraak.nl
npm run ingest:prep-works        # Ingest Kamerstukken and preparatory works
npm run build:db                 # Rebuild free-tier SQLite database
npm run build:db:paid            # Rebuild premium SQLite database
npm run drift:detect             # Run drift detection against BWB anchors
npm run check-updates            # Check for statute amendments
npm run extract:definitions      # Extract legal definitions
npm run populate:xrefs           # Populate EU cross-references

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: 126 MB (efficient, portable)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate

More Ansvar MCPs

Full fleet coverage at ansvar.eu/coverage.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Court case law expansion (Hoge Raad, Gerechtshoven archive)
• EU Regulations MCP integration (full EU law text, CJEU case law)
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking
• Lower court decisions (Rechtbanken archives)
• English translations for key statutes

Roadmap

• Core statute database -- 3,251 Dutch statutes with FTS5 search (100% BWB coverage)
• EU law integration -- cross-references to EU directives and regulations
• Premium case law -- 59,261 Hoge Raad, Gerechtshoven, and Rechtbanken rulings
• Premium preparatory works -- 2,994 Kamerstukken documents
• Hetzner GHCR deployment -- Docker-based production hosting
• npm package publication
• Full Wetten.overheid.nl coverage -- 3,251 statutes, 77,531 provisions
• Historical statute versions (amendment tracking)
• Lower court coverage (Rechtbanken archives)
• English translations for key statutes
• Web API for programmatic access

Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{dutch_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Dutch Law MCP Server: Production-Grade Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Dutch-law-mcp},
  note = {3,251 Dutch statutes with 77,531 provisions and EU law cross-references}
}

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Legislation: Dutch-Auteurswet-Art-11 -- Dutch statutory public domain. Auteurswet Art. 11 (1912) states that no copyright subsists in laws, decrees or ordinances issued by public authorities, or in judicial or administrative decisions. Verified verbatim 2026-05-17 -- see docs/audits/2026-05-17-eu-copyright-statutory-works-batch-1b-DE-IE-IT-NL-ES.md. Catalog entry: Dutch-Auteurswet-Art-11 in infrastructure/attribution-licenses.json.
• Case Law: Rechtspraak.nl -- same statutory basis (Auteurswet Art. 11 judicial-decision clause)
• EU Metadata: EUR-Lex (EU public domain, Decision 2011/833/EU)

About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the European market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool for Dutch law -- turns out everyone building for the Dutch and EU market has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating 3,251 statutes and 77,531 provisions shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

_{Built with care in Stockholm, Sweden}