Introduction
The Dutch Civil Registration is a very important source for genealogical research. The French emperor Napoleon introduced the system in the Netherlands. The 'burgerlijke stand' started in Limburg and Zeeuws Vlaanderen in 1796. From June 1811 on, the rest of Holland followed. All births, marriages and deaths were officially registered by the local authorities, using a standard form. There were always two copies: one for the municipality and one for the province.

Archives and internet
The registers of the Civil Registration are kept in provincial archives. Everyone has free access to the certificates, and can make copies for a small fee. Usually there are alphabetic indexes available for every ten years. But if you are not living in the Netherlands, there are other possibilities. The Dutch archives are creating an online index. This major project is called GenLias.

Privacy rules
Of course the Dutch government is protecting the privacy of their citizens. So births are made public after 100 years, marriages after 75 years and deaths after a 50 years. At the moment the birth certificates are generally available till 1902, the marriages till 1922, and the deaths till 1942.

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