One of the Restitutions Committee’s tasks is to give parties opinions about restitution claims that concern artworks that are not in the Dutch National Art Collection. In the Decree Establishing the Restitutions Committee (article 2, paragraph 2) this task is described as issuing an opinion about ‘disputes relating to the return of items of cultural value between the original owner who, as a result of circumstances directly linked to the Nazi regime, involuntarily lost possession, or his or her heirs, and the current owner, not being the Dutch State’.

Works of art whose former owners lost them as a consequence of the Nazi regime may now be in the possession of the Dutch State, a provincial or local authority institution, a foundation or a private individual. The Restitutions Committee can issue a binding opinion about claims to such artworks at the request of the parties concerned.