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On 2 October 2012 the newly established Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens) was officially launched with a festive public ceremony to which her Majesty the Queen and several members of the Cabinet attended. This institution is an integrated body: the old Equal Treatment Commission (existing since 1994) has been incorporated into the newly established NIHR. The provisions of the General Equal Treatment Act regarding the former Equality Treatment Commission were repealed by the Human Rights Institute Act.  The Human Rights Institute carries out the same tasks as prescribed in Chapter 2 of the Human Rights Institute Act: ‘Investigations and findings relating to equal treatment’ (Articles 9-13). A specific unit of the Institute deals with individual discrimination complaints (Art. 9).

In a surprise announcement to the Confederation of British Industry’s conference in November 2012 the Prime Minister stated his intention to do away with the obligation on public authorities to consider the impact of their decision making on equality. According to the Prime Minister, “car[ing] about making sure that government policy never marginalises or discriminates… does not have to mean churning out reams of bureaucratic nonsense. We have smart people in Whitehall who consider equalities issues while they're making the policy. We don't need all this extra tick-box stuff." The Government has lost a number of high profile judicial review claims in which it has been alleged that decision makers erred in law in inadequately assessing the impact of their decision making on equality. David Cameron also announced his intention radically to reduce the number of legal challenges to governmental decision making by making judicial review more expensive and by reducing the already short three month maximum period within which claims must be brought.