On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, the House of Representatives passed the bill promoting digital resilience of companies (Wbdwb). The bill establishes the tasks and powers of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) in the area of digital resilience of non-vital companies in the Netherlands, such as processing and disseminating information about vulnerabilities, threats and incidents and cooperating with other administrative bodies and organizations.
The Digital Trust Center (DTC) was established in 2018 within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate to make the non-vital Dutch business community more resilient against cyber threats. To this end, the Minister of EZK has two main tasks that are carried out by the DTC. First, providing information and advice to the business community on cyber resilience, such as sharing general threat information and sharing company-specific threat information with individual companies in the Netherlands. Second, promoting cooperation between companies in the field of cyber resilience.
The bill is an important prerequisite for the government to alert non-vital Dutch companies about digital vulnerabilities and security breaches. When alerting individual companies (1) and organizations, personal data may be processed, for example IP addresses and the contact details of a company's employees. The bill provides the legal basis to perform these tasks. In addition, the Wbdwb is conditional for the new national cybersecurity organization, which will emerge after the integration of the DTC, the CSIRT-DSP and the NCSC (2), to be able to continue to provide the non-vital business community with general and specific information about cyber threats and incidents.
The bill passed by a large majority (3).
by the House of Representatives with PVV, GreenLeft-PvdA, VVD, NSC, D66, CDA, Christian Union, DENK, FVD, SGP, Volt and JA21 as supporters.
To the bill (4).
(1) https://www.digitaltrustcenter.nl/dtc-waarschuwt-individuele-bedrijven
(2) https://www.digitaltrustcenter.nl/nieuws/een-herkenbaar-overheidsloket-voor-cybersecurityadvies
(3) https://www.eerstekamer.nl/behandeling/20240319/stemmingsoverzicht_tweede_kamer_3
(4) https://www.eerstekamer.nl/wetsvoorstel/36270_wet_bevordering_digitale
