Research that falls under the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (WMO) must be reviewed by an independent committee of experts. The research may not begin without a positive decision by this committee.
There are two types of reviewing committees: accredited MRECs and CCMO.
Indepentent adminstrative agencies
The reviewing committees and the CCMO are independent administrative agencies (ZBOs). This means that they are governmental bodies. They have legal jurisdiction to make decisions that are binding to citizens (in this case, decisions on the basis of the WMO).
A non-accredited research committee is not a ZBO and has no jurisdiction to make WMO decisions.
Review committee: accredited MREC or CCMO?
The law determines whether a research must be reviewed by the CCMO or an accredited MREC. This is laid down in the Central Review Decree (Besluit Centrale Beoordeling, BCB). For further explanation, if you are for example an inexperienced investigator, see Reviewing committee: accredited MREC or CCMO. In practice the accredited MRECs review the majority of research protocols.