The Audit Department of the State has investigated the archiving of chat messages from ministers. The instruction 'Archiving chat messages' has been in force on this subject since June 2023. This investigation has shown that, although the ministries have taken steps to structurally secure chat conversations, the instruction to ministers is not always properly observed. The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations will now monitor more stringently the secure archiving of chat messages from ministers by the various ministries.
The Audit Service Rijk, commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, has conducted an investigation into the implementation of the general instruction to ministers on how they should keep their instant messages. The tightened instruction, which applies from June 21, 2023, includes a call to limit the use of SMS and messaging apps, to use a separate phone for private and party political matters, a call to turn off "automatic deletion of messages" and not to use one-time playback options. Work is underway at all ministries to preserve messaging. How this is done varies by department and is still under development. Also because securing chats is cumbersome and labor-intensive and can only be automated to a limited extent.
A well-oiled routine has therefore not yet been established everywhere. Also because there are still technical challenges, a large amount of data needs to be stored or a privacy impact analysis for the chosen method is lacking.
