VNO-NCW represents the interests of Dutch business and industry and provides a range of services to its members. VNO-NCW strives to represent its members' interests by promoting a high quality business environment and investment climate in the Netherlands, with a view to boosting the competitiveness of Dutch industry. VNO-NCW's involvement extends to matters relating to education, infrastructure, public finances, taxation, the environment and social security.
VNO-NCW's role in representing its members is reflected in its active ongoing contacts with the government, politicians, public authorities, trade unions and non-governmental bodies. As such VNO-NCW helps to define the socio-economic climate in the Netherlands; it also contributes to the drafting of new laws and regulations and has a say in government decisions which may affect the business sector.
As the voice of Dutch business, VNO-NCW sits on numerous government advisory and consultative committees. The most important of these are the Social and Economic Council (SER), one of the Dutch government's key advisory panels, and the Labour Foundation, the official central consultative forum for employers' and trade union representatives. VNO-NCW also consults with the government regularly on behalf of Dutch industry.
Alongside these largely institutionalised forms of representation, VNO-NCW also maintains less formal contacts with politicians, governments and other social groupings (such as other employers' organisations at home and abroad, trade unions, environmental groups and consumer organisations), the media and international organisations.
To help it represent the interests of Dutch business in the European Union, VNO-NCW has its own office in Brussels. It is also a member of the European employers' organisation and actively participates in the policy-making of this body. At an international level, VNO-NCW represents Dutch companies in the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) and, through the BIAC, in the OECD, the collaborative association of Western industrialised nations. VNO-NCW also has its own representatives in dozens of countries around the globe.
A key part of the services provided by VNO-NCW consists of the large volume of up-to-date information it maintains relating to business and industry. This information covers the entire socio-economic, economic, financial, fiscal, legal and ecological spectrum. VNO-NCW's provision of rapid, reliable and customised information allows companies to exploit relevant developments at an early stage. VNO-NCW's written publications (e.g. Weekly Bulletin, Forum) are a key part of this service.
Other aspects of the services provided include direct contacts between VNO-NCW representatives and its affiliated members, information brochures, information gatherings and a telephone helpline.
The service provided by VNO-NCW primarily targets its affiliated sector organisations, direct member companies and regional employers' associations.