Lawful Interception & Disclosure

NBIP acts as a central point of contact for warrants of authorized government agencies. In practice, this means that authorized government agencies contact NBIP if they have a request for a participant of the Lawful Interception and Disclosure Service of NBIP. NBIP takes care of the technical, legal and administrative aspects of these requests.

Providers of public electronic communications services or networks must be able to provide data about customers or install wiretaps if requested to do so by authorities that are legally authorised to do so. In the Netherlands, the legal basis for this is laid down in Chapter 13 of the Telecommunications Act.

The powers of investigative services are described in the Code of Criminal Procedure, Book I, Articles 126m to 126nb. Like the intelligence services, investigative services, such as the police, are allowed to tap and analyse various forms of online data traffic.

Article 126m of the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes telephone and internet tapping as a special investigative power. According to the Special Investigative Powers Act (in Dutch: Wet BOB), this special investigative power can only be used based on these three titles:

1. 1. There must be suspicion that a crime has been
    committed (Title VI a);
  2. There must be reasonable suspicion that crimes,
    as described in Article 67(1) of the Code of Criminal
    Procedure,

- - - - are being planned in an organised context
      - or committed which, given their nature or
        connection with other crimes planned in that
        organised context
      - or committed, constitute a serious breach of the
        legal order (Title V)

1. 1. There must be indications that a terrorist offence is being committed (Title V b).

NBIP receives the warrants on behalf of the affiliated participant and checks whether the content of the claim has been drawn up in accordance with the legal requirements. If this is the case, NBIP ensures on behalf of the relevant participants that the warrant is settled. If a warrant does not meet the requirements, NBIP rejects the requests and informs the applicant.

All activities carried out by NBIP in accepting, processing and executing warrants are performed in strict compliance with the law and under strict security measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the data.

Dossier: eEvidence

The forthcoming legislation on e-evidence will ensure that, in principle, from 18 August 2026, competent judicial authorities from EU Member States will be able to request direct access to electronic evidence (e-Evidence) from digital service providers in other European Member States. Providers will then be required to provide the requested information and/or data within 10 days (currently: 120 days) and, in some urgent cases, within 8 hours. The number of warrants to providers is expected to increase.

The background eEvidence

According to the European Commission, in more than half of all criminal investigations, authorities now submit requests to obtain electronic evidence (‘e-evidence’). This includes emails, chat messages and account information. This is also referred to as historical data. However, obtaining this data is a lengthy legal process if it is stored on servers located in other European countries. That is why the European Commission has proposed a regulation and a directive under the heading of eEvidence. Both have been adopted by the European Parliament. The directive must be transposed by Member States by 2026, and the regulation will enter into force across the EU on 18 August 2026.

What does eEvidence consist of?

The Regulation is directly applicable, which means that it does not need to be transposed into national law but comes into force directly in the Member States. This will take effect on 18 August 2026.

The Regulation establishes the legal basis for competent authorities to access data stored within a Member State. This falls under the European Production Order. It also stipulates that service providers must respond within 10 days, or within 8 hours in urgent cases. At present, a time limit of 120 days still applies to production orders, whilst the mutual legal assistance procedure has a period of ten months.

The preservation order prevents a provider from deleting electronic evidence whilst the disclosure order is still pending.

Who will the eEvidence legislation apply to?

The eEvidence legislative package will apply to providers offering the following services:

electronic communications services
internet domain names and IP numbering
communication, storage and processing services, including social media platforms, hosting platforms and gaming services.

eEvidence in practice

An eEvidence platform is being developed in Europe, with a single point of contact in each Member State for accessing, sending and receiving requests. This platform will be used by both the applicant and the provider.

eEvidence & the Lawful Interception and Disclosure Service

NBIP anticipates that eEvidence will lead to an increase in the number of lawful disclosure orders. Providers offering services in other Member States must be prepared for eEvidence and able to process such orders. To this end, they must, among other things, register and specify in detail the services they provide. It is expected that more parties will register with NBIP to comply with eEvidence. For this reason, our service is being organised in such a way that eEvidence orders for NBIP participants will also be processed in the future. The approach is, on the one hand, to utilise the existing operational and legal expertise in the field of lawful disclosure within NBIP to ensure participants become compliant quickly and effectively.

At the same time, newly acquired experience and legal knowledge will be shared with participants in a working group to be set up specifically for this topic. Naturally, the common, non-profit approach, with due regard for the interests of both participants and stakeholders, remains the primary guiding principle here.