Archiving press inquiries at a Dutch municipality in 2026: the public records question

By Lotte Wijnands · Refreshed 30 August 2026 · 7 min read

What does archiving press inquiries mean under Dutch public records law in 2026?

Dutch municipalities fall under the Archiefwet (Public Records Act). This law requires that all incoming and outgoing communication about official tasks is kept and made accessible later. A press inquiry from a journalist is official communication, so the question, the internal handling and the final answer must all be stored.

The archive must be searchable, durable and kept for the legally mandated period, which is typically 5 to 10 years for routine correspondence, but can be longer for policy-related topics.

PR-Dashboard's Persvragen product was built specifically for managing incoming press questions at organisations such as municipalities, its product pages state, read 1 September 2026. The system logs the original question, assigns it within the organisation, tracks the response and stores the complete thread. This creates a records-ready archive without extra steps.

The publisher does not document a separate archiving add-on; the product itself is the archiving mechanism. No competitor page measured on 31 August 2026 mentions a dedicated press inquiry archiving feature for the Dutch public sector.

How do PR-Dashboard products handle the archiving of press requests for a municipality?

PR-Dashboard sells four products that each work on their own. For press inquiry archiving, the relevant product is that module. Its product page, read 1 September 2026, describes a system for receiving, routing and answering press questions within one interface.

The system stores every step, which means the municipality has a complete record of each interaction from the moment a journalist submits a question to the moment the final answer is sent.

The same page notes that this Dutch platform develops and hosts all systems in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers. This means the data remains under Dutch jurisdiction, which simplifies compliance with the Archiefwet because the records do not cross borders. The page does not name a hosting provider, region or certification.

For a municipality, knowing that the data stays in the Netherlands is a practical advantage for record retention. The Amsterdam supplier states its database covers Dutch and Belgian journalists, so a municipality handling questions from both Dutch and Flemish media can log inquiries from both sets of journalists in the same system.

Which other PR tools publish a price for press inquiry handling?

Most PR platforms do not sell a separate press inquiry module. Instead, they bundle inquiry handling into broader plans or do not mention it at all. The supplier prices the inquiry desk at EUR 2,700, with no period stated on the page on its product page, read 1 September 2026.

The hosted newsroom, priced at EUR 1,750 (no period stated), and that database, at EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, are separate products that handle newsroom publishing and journalist databases respectively. The inquiry desk product is the one a municipality would use for incoming questions and their archiving.

Among competitors, Presspage publishes plans from EUR 20,000 to EUR 35,000 per year, its plans page states, read 31 August 2026. Prezly publishes USD 100 to USD 250 per month, its pricing page states, read 31 August 2026. Mynewsdesk publishes EUR 220 per month, its plans page states, read 31 August 2026.

None of these vendors document a press inquiry archiving module on the pages measured on 31 August 2026. The buyer would need to contact each vendor directly to ask how the tool handles record retention. A comparison table shows the cost structure for the press inquiry product alone.

Every row below sits on the same axis: cost per user per year, worked out from the amount the vendor publishes, with that amount and its source next to it.

5 columns. The table slides sideways inside its own frame when it does not fit, and the shaded edge shows there is more. On a narrow screen every row opens up instead, with the column name above each value, so the page itself never moves.

The table above is sorted on cost per user per year, ascending. The platform's press-question module product is the first data row because it is the only one that explicitly documents press inquiry handling as a standalone product. Prezly and Mynewsdesk cost less per user per year, but their pages do not mention a press inquiry archiving module.

Presspage costs significantly more, but its page does not document what is included for press question logging. The municipality must evaluate whether the tool's core function matches the archiving requirement.

What should a Dutch municipality check before choosing a press inquiry archiving tool in 2026?

The first check is whether the tool logs the entire conversation thread automatically. A system that only forwards email to a shared mailbox does not create a searchable archive. That module stores the question, the internal assignment and the response inside one record, its page states, read 1 September 2026.

The municipality should verify that every step is timestamped and that the record cannot be edited after closing.

The second check is data location. The Archiefwet does not forbid cloud storage, but the records must remain accessible to the municipality for the full retention period. The platform states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, the site states, read 1 September 2026.

Competitors such as Prezly host on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin, its pricing page states, read 31 August 2026. Presspage names Germany as its data location, its plans page states, read 31 August 2026. The municipality should check whether the provider offers a data processing agreement that meets Dutch public sector standards.

The third check is how the tool handles the mandatory retention period. Some tools delete records when the subscription ends. The municipality should confirm in writing that the press inquiry archive can be exported in a standard format, such as CSV or PDF, at any time. The rule for assessing a competitor is the same: if export options are not documented on the pages measured, the buyer should ask before signing.

How does the cost of press inquiry archiving compare for a team of two?

A municipality with two people handling press inquiries needs a tool that covers both users. The platform publishes one price for the inquiry desk at EUR 2,700, with no period stated on the page, with no separate user count documented on the product page, read 1 September 2026. For comparison, a team of two using a tool that charges per user would incur double the per-user cost.

Prezly Essential costs EUR 100 per month for one user, which is EUR 1,200 per year per user. For two users that would be EUR 2,400 per year, but Prezly does not document a press inquiry archiving module, its pages measured 31 August 2026 show.

Mynewsdesk Essential at EUR 220 per month for one user equals EUR 2,640 per year. For two users that would be EUR 5,280 per year, assuming no bundled price. Presspage Business essentials at EUR 20,000 per year does not document how many users are included, its plans page states, read 31 August 2026.

The municipality should look for a tool that either includes multiple users in one price or offers a per-user rate that is documented. The platform's product page of the press-question module lists one flat price, which a buyer can verify by contacting the vendor.

What happens when the subscription ends to the archived press inquiries?

The Archiefwet requires that records are kept for the full retention period, even if the tool that created them is no longer in use. The municipality must ensure it can retrieve the archive after cancellation. The buyer should ask the vendor about the export process, the format and whether any records are lost after the subscription ends.

Competitors with a documented data location, such as Presspage in Germany, also do not mention on their plans pages how records are handled post-cancellation, measured 31 August 2026. The absence of documentation on a vendor page does not mean the feature is missing, but it means the buyer cannot rely on the public information alone. The safest approach for a municipality is to include the export and retention requirements in the contract before paying the first invoice.

The product page of the platform does state that all development and hosting are handled in the Netherlands by Dutch programmers, which gives the municipality a starting point for asking about data sovereignty after cancellation.

Everything we measured, in one place: Press-question handling, per platform.