The present stage of the Delta Plan for the safeguarding of the Dutch cultural heritage is the drawing up of actual plans for making up the arrears in registration, inventorying, documentation and conservation. It is of great importance that these plans are firm, that they are carried out with determination and that, on evaluation after a year, the achievements meet the goals set out at the beginning. The three tasks of a museum are acquisition and selection, maintenance and conservation and presentation, and these tasks should be fulfilled together in a proper balance. There is no sense in even temporarily limiting oneself to maintenance and conservation only, as the policy in this matter unconditionally requires a clear view and policy in the fields of acquisition and presentation. Arrears can be defined as the difference between the part of the collection which fulfills the standards and the part which does not. Definition and general acceptance of the standards are therefore vital. These have been developed for the carious notions involved: registration, inventorying, documentation, passive and active conservation and restoration. Once the arrears will have been worked away, more money will be needed annually than before, to maintain the high standards, especially in the area of inventorying and restoration. When conceiving plans and carrying them out one should realize that financial means and the availability of personnel will be limited, unlike the conditions under which the original Delta Plan for dikes and barriers in the Dutch Delta was realized. Central guidelines from the Ministry, clear priorities, self-discipline, checking and evaluation should be important characteristics of the operation. Small institutions may - and should - benefit by the solidarity of larger ones.