The Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is an independent expert body that provides advisory services and capacity development on environmental assessment. We operate under an agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1993, with a special focus on countries eligible for Dutch International Cooperation. In addition, we also work in other countries under agreement with donors such as the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Dutch Embassies, the World Bank, European Union, etc Our work consists of the following activities: •advice on scoping and review of environmental assessments of plans, programmes and projects (ESIA/SEA); •capacity development of systems and institutions to improve the environmental assessment practice; •knowledge and learning resources on environmental assessment; In the Netherlands the Commission has a legal status to act as an independent advisor since 1987, issuing non-binding advice to government agencies responsible for environmental assessments. See for more information our Dutch profile. The NCEA consists of a secretariat of 12 staff members involved in international cooperation (out of ca. 40 staff members in total). For advisory services, tailor-made working groups of experts are installed. For capacity development projects, external experts are called upon when relevant. In order to have quick access to experts, the secretariat manages a database containing several hundred experts.