Experts and advocates are asking the court in The Hague to issue a preliminary injunction against the decision by the Investment Review Board (BTI) on behalf of the Minister of Economic Affairs not to provide information about the review process.
The group of advocates—consisting of Esther van Egerschot, Maxim Februari, Felienne Hermans, Bert Hubert, Joris Luyendijk, Caroline Nevejan, Reijer Passchier, Jelle Postma, Sander Schimmelpenninck, Eric Smit, Karin Spaink, Marleen Stikker, Kees Verhoeven, the Firewall Foundation, and Privacy First—sentan urgent letter to BTI on Monday, January 12. In it, we urged them to provide information about the acquisition of Solvinity Group B.V. (Solvinity) by the American tech multinational Kyndryl Inc. (Kyndryl), so that we, as interested citizens and organizations, could be involved in that review process.
The decision concerns BTI's refusal to comply in a timely manner with our urgent request for full disclosure on this matter, in particular on whether and how this acquisition of Solvinity is being assessed in terms of national security.
Solvinity manages the infrastructure behind DigiD, the system that allows citizens to identify themselves digitally to various Dutch government agencies, including the Tax and Customs Administration, as well as insurers, healthcare providers, and service providers. DigiD is legally designated as a service that is vital to our society.
Kyndryl claims to be the world's largest provider of IT infrastructure services and is subject to US law. Under that legislation, the US government can demand access to data and systems, which is contrary to the interests of the Netherlands and the privacy of Dutch citizens. If part of our vital digital infrastructure is placed in US hands, this will increase the Netherlands' vulnerability to failure, manipulation, or even blackmail.
It is now common knowledge that the US government (partly in favor of the interests of Big Tech companies) sometimes intimidates and sanctions individual citizens and organizations participating in public debate by improper means. This potential weakening of our democratic constitutional state is not only a matter of national security, but also affects the individual freedoms and security of citizens. This is particularly true for our group of advocates, who often publicly criticize the actions of the US government and Big Tech companies.
The group therefore demands transparency from the Minister of Economic Affairs regarding the acquisition of Solvinity and wants to know what statements the minister has made in the context of the review of Solvinity and Kyndryl and whether the minister has already determined that a review decision is required. If the review decision has already been made, the group demands a copy of it from the minister.
The group of advocates is represented by attorneys Matthijs Kaaks (Boekx Advocaten) and Roland Mans (De Geer Advocaten).
Read the objectionHEREand the parallel request for provisional reliefHERE(PDF).
