The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers is an independent administrative body funded by the Ministry of Justice. An independent administrative body is an organisation that carries out a certain government task. COA assumes the responsibility for the reception of asylum seekers, and the Minister for Aliens Affairs and Integration is politically accountable.

The COA Act
COA's responsibilities are stipulated in the COA Act (Wet Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers). This Act also stipulates that the Minister for Aliens Affairs and Integration can order COA to carry out other duties related to the reception of asylum seekers or other categories of aliens.

Collaboration
In order to carry out its duties, COA closely collaborates with other organisations, such as the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND), the Aliens Police (VP) and the Royal Netherlands Military Constabulary (KMar).

Structure
A number of reception centres and a cluster office form together a cluster under the direction of a Cluster Manager. The Cluster Managers are responsible for the reception of asylum seekers in a cluster. At present there are 8 clusters, divided into two regions North and South. COA's Head Office is located at Rijswijk and consists of a management and a number of central staff departments.