The Public Prosecution Service (Dutch: Openbaar Ministerie, OM) is the body of public prosecutor

Prosecutor

The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...

s in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Together with the judges, it forms the judiciary

Judiciary

The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...

 in the Dutch criminal justice system

Criminal justice system of the Netherlands

The criminal justice system of the Netherlands is the system of practices and institutions of the Netherlands directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. The Netherlands criminal...

.

The literal translation of Openbaar Ministerie, "Public Ministry", can lead to a misunderstanding, as the OM is not a ministry

Dutch ministries

There are eleven ministries of the Netherlands, all with their own minister, there are also several ministers without portfolio and about as many state secretaries...

 like the Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Finance (Netherlands)

The Ministry of Finance is the Dutch ministry of finance: it is occupied with the national budget, taxation and financial economic policy, including supervision of financial markets...

.

The Public Prosecution Service decides who has to appear in front of the judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 and for which offence or crime

Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

. It is the body that can decide to prosecute someone. The main domain of the OM is criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

. The OM does not concern itself with civil law

Civil law (area)

Civil law in continental law is a branch of law which is the general part of private law.The basis for civil law lies in a civil code. Before enacting of codes, civil law could not be distinguished from private law...

cases like job termination or neighbour disputes. In by far the majority of cases, the OM only comes into the picture when an offence has been committed.