The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration has abandoned its planned migration of about 5,000 employees to Microsoft 365 in the public cloud. The government paused the project in July after the Dutch Advisory Council on ICT Assessment recommended reversing it in June. The latest decision replaces the cloud rollout with an on-premises and open-source approach, though no specific open-source software has been chosen yet.
The council's assessment cited shortcomings in information security, data processing, and future-proofing. It also raised concerns about sending confidential documents via American servers, the use of standard Microsoft encryption instead of Double Key Encryption, and the lack of end-to-end encryption by default for Teams calls. Vendor lock-in, reduced flexibility, and the absence of an adequate exit strategy were also flagged as showstoppers.
For now, the tax agency will keep its existing Microsoft software. According to State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg, an on-premises mail and calendar environment will be realized in 2027, followed by European open-source solutions for personal storage and collaboration later in 2027 and 2028. Other Dutch government agencies are also exploring Linux-based desktops and open-source suites such as NixOS, openDesk, and La Suite.
The decision fits a broader European trend. The Linux Foundation's 2026 State of Open Source in Europe report found that 94% of EU organizations consider digital sovereignty important, with 61% calling it very important. Similar moves have been made by governments in Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland, reflecting a wider desire to reduce dependence on US cloud providers.