2016 Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum applies to jurisdiction Netherlands
An advisory referendum on the approval of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement was held in the Netherlands on 6 April 2016. The referendum question was: "Are you for or against the Approval Act of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine?"With a turnout of 32.28%, the threshold for a valid referendum was met. 61% of the votes cast were against the Approval Act, and 38.2% in favour. This accounted for 19.5% of eligible voters voting against and 12.2% voting in favour. As the Act was rejected, the States General has to enact a follow-up law to either repeal the Act or put it into effect after all. The referendum is the first since the enactment of the Advisory Referendum Act (Wet raadgevend referendum) on 1 July 2015, with the Dutch tapping law referendum in 2018 to be the second.The decision to hold a referendum was made after more than 427,000 valid requests were received within six weeks, more than the required number of 300,000 requests. The referendum was suspensory and non-binding, and following the rejection the Government had to propose "zo spoedig mogelijk" (English: as soon as possible/at the earliest convenience) a new act to either gain parliamentary approval for either retraction of the approval act or for its entry into force.  The government secured an additional agreement between the 28 Member States of the European Union addressing what were according to the government the concerns of the no-vote in December 2016. The additional agreement did not change the association agreement and neither Ukraine nor the European Union or Euratom were parties to the additional agreement. Following the approval of the additional agreement, a new law was passed approving the Association Agreement in May 2017, enabling the Netherlands to deposit its instrument of ratification on 15 June 2017. The association agreement entered into force on 1 September 2017.