The new CIO System Decree for the Civil Service 2025 will come into effect on January 1, 2026. The Council of Ministers has approved this decree based on a proposal by State Secretary Van Marum of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The decree is an important step in the digital transformation of the government, with the aim of making digitization more effective, efficient, and responsible.
The CIO system ensures cooperation and coordination between all ministries in the field of ICT and information provision. Each ministry has a Chief Information Officer (CIO), who is responsible for digitization policy and information systems within their own department. Better coordination enables the rijksoverheid to work rijksoverheid , be more transparent, and respond more quickly to new challenges. The CIO Council, led by the CIO Rijk, is the most important consultative body. Here, the CIOs of departments and several larger public service providers make decisions on government-wide digitization issues, such as cloud policy and the responsible use of generative AI by the government.
The 2021 CIO system stipulates that the system must be evaluated every three years. Based on evaluations conducted in 2024 by the Central Government Audit Service (ADR) and the ICT Assessment Advisory Board (AcICT), the system has now been revised in close consultation with all departments and experts. A number of innovations have been implemented based on the evaluations.
In order to safeguard strategic knowledge about digitization at the highest level, new specialist roles have been added to the system alongside the existing roles of CIO and CISO (Chief Information Security Officer): Chief Privacy Officer (CPO), Chief Data Officer (CDO), and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). These are subject matter experts who act as advisors to the departmental CIO. In addition, the role of the CIO for the Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (CIO RCN) has been formally established as part of the system.
The CIO Rijk now has explicit powers to establish binding frameworks. This means that the CIO Rijk can draw up and monitor rules, standards, and guidelines for the information systems of all ministries. The CIOs have agreed that if no consensus is reached in the CIO council, the CIO Rijk can take a decision itself in order to increase decisiveness.
The new system sets out clear tasks to improve the quality of ICT systems. Departmental CIOs must ensure interoperability. This means that information systems must be able to communicate and work together effectively, particularly when exchanging data and connecting to common government-wide facilities. CIOs must also ensure sound information management. This is essential to ensure that all information is stored in a sustainable, findable, accurate, and reliable manner.
Through better management, a greater focus on innovation, and a more efficient government, departments and public service providers can perform their social tasks more effectively. CIOs are given more scope for strategic themes, such as increasing digital autonomy and utilizing technological innovations. With the new roles in the system, strategic ICT knowledge is better safeguarded.
The CIO system will continue to evolve in the future in order to respond to technological changes. This will enable the government to remain digitally agile and efficient in the future.
