1. The Board decides whether an investigation is to be conducted, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 5.

2. The chairman of the Board may decide on conducting a provisional investigation in anticipation of the decision of the Board referred to in the first paragraph. The chairman of the Board may grant another member of the Board or the general secretary the authority to take this decision on his behalf.

3. The decision to conduct an investigation or a provisional investigation shall be taken within five days calculated from the day of the incident. This shall not apply: a. if an incident is investigated in connection with other incidents; b. if at a later date any facts or circumstances are found that justify an investigation after all. c. if the investigation exclusively relates to dealing with the consequences of an incident.

4. The Board shall inform Our Minister whom it concerns, as well as the provincial or municipal administration, where appropriate, of the fact that an investigation is to be conducted.

 The Board shall not conduct an investigation if Our Minister decides so for serious reasons of security of the countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands or for serious reasons connected with maintaining or advancing international law and order.

1. Our Minister whom it concerns in the Netherlands, the Queen's Commissioner or the mayor may submit a written request to the Board for conducting an investigation.

2. The Board shall decide upon such a request as soon as possible, but not later than within four weeks after receipt and shall inform the petitioner of its decision. The Board may extend this term once by four weeks. The Board shall inform the petitioner of the extension. Article 41 , third paragraph, shall not be applicable.

3. If the decision of the Board upon a request is negative, the reasons of this decision shall be given.

 Rules shall be laid down by ministerial regulation with respect to notifying the fact that an investigation is instituted and sending a provisional message to a foreign state or an international organisation, in the cases to be further specified.

1. The Board may allow that at the request of a state one or more representatives of that state participate in the investigation. Our Minister whom it concerns may also address such a request to another state through the intervention of Our Minister of Foreign Affairs.

2. In the event of an investigation into military incidents in which, apart from ordnance, personnel or facilities of the Dutch armed forces, also ordnance, personnel or facilities of one or more other states belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are involved, the Board shall give the representatives of that state or those states the opportunity to participate in the investigation.

3. In the event of an investigation into incidents in which the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba are involved, the Board may permit that, at the request of the government of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba respectively, one or more representatives of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba respectively participate in the investigation.

4. The representatives may call in the assistance of experts.

5. The representatives and experts shall have access to the data and information collected during the investigation, provided that they are obliged to observe confidentiality and that in the states or countries represented by them they are not obliged to give wider publicity to such data than possible in pursuance of this Kingdom Act.

6. It will be determined by ministerial regulation in what cases, in connection with international agreements, the Board is bound to apply the first paragraph. Furthermore, it will also be determined by ministerial regulation in what cases Our Minister whom it concerns in the Netherlands is obliged to submit a request as referred to in the first paragraph.

7. By or pursuant to a Kingdom Order in Council or an Order in Council further rules shall be laid down concerning the powers of the representatives, to be further specified, and the experts who render them assistance.

 In the cases to be further specified particular rights, to be further specified, may be assigned by ministerial regulation in connection with an investigation, to a state whose citizens have suffered injuries to be further specified.

 For the purpose of an investigation into an incident with an aircraft, not being an aircraft in use with Our Minister of Defence or a foreign army, the Board is authorised to call in the assistance of authorities or organisations from the other member states of the European Union or any of the other states that are party to the Agreement concerning the European Economic Area in order to make the following available:

a. installations, facilities and equipment for:

1) the technical investigatio n of wreckage, onboard equipment and other objects important for the investigation;

2) the processing of information from flight recorders and

3) the electronic filing and processing of data on air accidents;

b. experts specialised in investigating accidents or incidents, in order to entrust them with well-defined tasks, and this exclusively in an investigation in connection with a major air accident.

1. The Board can hold sessions.

2. The Board shall send written notification of the place, date and hour of the session to:

a. the natural persons, legal persons or administrative bodies whose acts or omissions according to the provisional judgement of the Board have contributed to the incident arisen or the surviving relatives of a natural person as referred to above;

b. the representatives referred to in Article 45 who participate in the investigation;

c. Our Minister of Defence, if it concerns an investigation into an incident as referred to in Article 4, third or fourth paragraph;

d. Our Minister or Our Minister of Justice respectively, after a request to that effect.

3. Place, day and hour of the session shall also be announced in the Netherlands Government Gazette.

 If the Board decides upon holding a session, it may determine that those referred to in Article 48, second paragraph, section a, will be allowed to inspect the documents relating to the incident, if in its opinion this is necessary in the interest of arriving at the truth. As opposed to contacts for the preparation of the items to be dealt with at the session, those who inspect the documents shall be obliged to observe secrecy.

1. The sessions of the Board shall be public.

2. For serious reasons the Board may decide that the issue dealt with or part of it will not be discussed in public. The Board is obliged to take such a decision if this is the express wish of the person who is being heard, if this person thinks that by a public hearing he or one of his relatives by blood or affinity in the direct ascending or descending line or in the collateral line to the second or third degree or his spouse or former spouse or registered partner or former registered partner may be exposed to the risk of a criminal or disciplinary sentence or an adverse judgement. The Board shall inform the person who is to be heard of this possibility.

3. By a Kingdom Order in Council or an Order in Council further rules shall be laid down concerning the proceedings during the sessions of the Board.

1. The chairman of the Board will call the persons it wishes to hear as witnesses or experts. If necessary, the chairman of the Board may have a summons served by means of a bailif's notification. At least two weeks shall lapse between the day on which the summons is served and the day of the session.

2. Every person who has been called as a witness or an expert will be obliged to appear.

3. If the witness or expert upon whom the summons has been served fails to appear, this shall be recorded in an official report, including an accurate description of the summons and signed by the chairman of the Board.

4. Unless there is proof to the contrary, the official report of nonappearance shall constitute full proof of what is recorded there.

5. The chairman of the Board may request the public prosecutor at the district court within whose jurisdiction the Board meets, to serve a summons upon the witness or expert in the event of his non-appearance at the session of the Board and to add a warrant to bring the latter before the court.

6. The natural persons referred to in Article 48, second paragraph, section a, as well as representatives of the legal persons or administrative bodies referred to there, will be entitled to be heard as witnesses at the session at their own request, if the y have not been called by the Board.

1. Provided that he has reached the age of sixteen, a witness can only be heard by the Board at a session after having taken the oath or made a solemn affirmation in the presence of the chairman that he will tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If in the opinion of the Board a witness does not sufficiently understand the significance of the oath or the solemn affirmation due to mental disorder or limited development of his mental faculties, he sha ll not be put under oath or be asked to make a solemn affirmation, under penalty of nullity, but he will be demanded to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

2. An expert can only be heard by the Board at a session after first having taken the oath or made a solemn affirmation in the presence of the chairman that he will report to the best of his knowledge.

3. If requested by the chairman of the Board, witnesses and experts are obliged to take the oath or make a solemn affirmation, to give testimony or to render their services as experts, all this except for exemption on account of official or professional secrecy.

4. An official report shall be drawn up of the hearing of witnesses and experts, to be signed by the chairman of the Board and the general secretary.

 The Board may pay the witnesses and experts called by the chairman and the interpreters appointed by the chairman a compensation, to be fixed by ministerial regulation.

 By or pursuant to a Kingdom Order in Council further rules shall be laid down concerning the investigation of the Board.

1. The Board shall draw up a report in completion of its investigation.

2. In so far as the investigation extends to it, the report shall at any rate include:

a. an analysis of the facts of the incident and the way in which the consequences are being dealt with, as well as the data on which this analysis is based;

b. establishing the causes or probable causes of the incident and the extent of its consequences;

c. if there is reason to believe so, the detection of structural safety defects and the recommendations connected with them.

3. Data taken from documents and other data carriers as referred to in Article 69, first paragraph, section a through e, shall only be included in the report in so far as they are essential for the analysis of the facts of the incident or for the foundations of the conclusions. The names, addresses or identification data of a similar nature with respect to the persons involved in an accident or incident shall not be included in the report.

4. The Board may issue a report in two parts if it conducts an investigation into both an incident and the consequences thereof. If the report is issued in two parts, the regulations concerning the report shall apply to either part.

5. By ministerial regulation further rules may be laid down with respect to the report.

1. The Board shall send the draft report to the parties referred to in Article 48, second paragraph, section a. They may comment in writing for a term of four weeks, taking effect from the day on which the draft report has been sent. They are obliged to observe secrecy with respect to the draft report. The Board may decide not to include the part of the report referred to in Article 55, second paragraph, section c, in the draft report sent.

2. By or pursuant to a Kingdom Order in Council rules shall be laid down with respect to sending the draft report to other states, or the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba respectively for comment, as well as with respect to the term during which comments can be made.

3. If the comments made should give rise to it, the Board may adjust the report. If the report is not adjusted in conformity with the essence of the comments, the Board shall indicate the reasons for this in its report.