Dutch Central Bank and Dutch regulators urge joint IT contracting and procurement changes to strengthen digital autonomy

The Dutch Central Bank, together with the Authority for Consumers and Markets, the Authority for the Financial Markets, the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the Digital Infrastructure Inspectorate, has published a joint report calling on governments, businesses and IT providers to accelerate the shift toward greater digital autonomy. The report says organizations should give digital autonomy more weight when procuring IT services and that companies have more scope than often assumed under competition rules to work together when contracting with IT suppliers. The regulators tie that message to the risks created by dependence on a small number of IT providers, including disruption from outages, cyber incidents and geopolitical developments. They define digital autonomy as greater choice and control over IT services rather than full technological independence, and argue this requires more open IT architectures, interoperability, open standards and easier switching between suppliers. Their recommendations include a stronger government role in pooling demand and acting as an early buyer of new European digital services, cooperation within sectors on sector-specific IT services, and greater collaboration among IT providers to build European alternatives. The report also links these steps to broader supply chain risk management under DORA and the new Cybersecurity Act implementing the NIS2 Directive, which takes effect on Aug. 15.