International law:The Constitution bars the Dutch Supreme Court from exercising Constitutional review of formal statutory acts. However, the Netherlands adheres to a ‘monist theory’ of international law. This means that the Dutch courts can apply international standards of equal treatment and non-discrimination directly also when it concerns statutory acts.

The GETA applies to the areas of employment and occupation, provision of goods and services (including education) and, only in the context of racial discrimination, the areas of social security, social protection, and healthcare. All guarantees flowing from the Directives also apply in the area of the provision of goods and services. The DDA applies to employment, professional education, housing and primary and secondary education. In addition, the Act provides that on a date still to be determined by the legislator it shall also apply to the area of public transport. It is announced that this will happen in the summer of 2012. The ADA is most limited in its material scope: it only applies to employment and employment related education. It is noted that until 1 January 2008 at the latest, the ADA shall not apply to the military service.

The ETC is the main officially designated equality body (on the basis of article 13 of the Directive 2000/43/EC). Its mandate covers conducting surveys and issuing reports and recommendations. It does not cover the task of assisting victims of discrimination. This latter function is seen as contradictory to the main task of the ETC, which is to hear and investigate cases of (alleged) discriminatory practices or behaviours. This task takes most of the time and resources of the ETC.