The Dutch Tweede Kamer – the Netherlands’ House of Representatives – has passed a motion calling on the government to remove DigiD, the national digital identity system used by 16.5 million residents to access government services, from hosting provider Solvinity before a planned acquisition by U.S. firm Kyndryl takes effect.
The motion, tabled by GroenLinks-PvdA and supported by all parties except JA21, instructs the cabinet to either find an alternative Dutch provider for DigiD infrastructure or prevent the Kyndryl deal from closing. Lawmakers cited the U.S. Cloud Act, which can compel American-owned companies to hand over data to U.S. authorities regardless of where servers are physically located, as a direct threat to Dutch digital sovereignty.
Solvinity currently hosts the infrastructure that processes DigiD authentication for government services including tax filings, healthcare portals, and municipal administration. Kyndryl, a former IBM subsidiary focused on IT infrastructure services, announced its planned acquisition of Solvinity late last year. The Dutch competition regulator ACM approved the deal in February despite objections from multiple parliamentary factions who argued the review failed to account for national security dimensions.
Pieter van Oordt, senior privacy advisor at Logius – the government agency that manages DigiD – has emerged as a whistleblower in the dispute. Van Oordt revealed that an internal risk analysis concluded existing mitigation measures would be insufficient to protect Dutch citizen data under American ownership, and said the full analysis was never shared with parliament despite its relevance to the legislative debate.
Junior home affairs minister Eric van der Burg told lawmakers the existing contract cannot be broken immediately and that the government is awaiting advice from the Bureau Toetsing Investeringen, the national investment screening body currently assessing the deal’s security implications. Despite the parliamentary vote, Van der Burg authorized Logius to extend its contract with Solvinity on 27 March, with formal signing expected in early May ahead of a contractual deadline.
The standoff highlights growing tensions across Europe over foreign ownership of critical digital identity infrastructure, a concern that has intensified as governments increasingly rely on digital authentication systems for essential public services.
Sources: NL Times, DutchNews.nl, DutchNews.nl
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
