On 24 June 2026, the proposed Defence Readiness Act (Wet op de defensiegereedheid, hereinafter: the Act) was formally submitted by the Dutch government to the parliament for debate. The Act is designed to remove legal obstacles that Defence faces when expanding its activities and to fill gaps in existing legal bases. For example, the Act makes it possible to conduct more realistic exercises involving unmanned aerial vehicles over military sites, to educate and train cyber specialists, and to monitor and secure network and information systems, as well as to carry out activities such as low-altitude and night-time flying, firing in the dark and digging trenches on military territory.
The Act does not stand alone. It is part of a broader European legislative package to strengthen defence readiness, the so-called Defence Readiness Omnibus. Following negotiations between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, a provisional agreement on three concrete legislative proposals from that package was reached on 10 June 2026. The Dutch Act reflects and reinforces that same European ambition at national level.
The Act is relevant to a broad range of private sector parties such as companies that supply goods, works or services to Defence, parties with real estate or operations near military sites, technology and data companies active in the defence domain, and infrastructure providers involved in civil-military cooperation.
Here are 5 things you need to know about the Act.
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1. The Act: need for (broad support and shared responsibility for) defence readiness
The Act comes against the backdrop of a rapidly changing international security situation, in which Europe – including the Netherlands – is preparing for the accelerated readiness, growth and strengthening of its armed forces. To prepare for potential large-scale conflict, the armed forces must be able to expand more quickly, strengthen their capabilities, and train more intensively, including within national territory. Therefore, the Act reflects a deliberate policy choice to prioritise defence readiness by giving the armed forces greater operational flexibility.
Prior to its submission to parliament, the Advisory Division of the Council of State (Afdeling advisering van de Raad van State) has published its advisory opinion on the previous draft of the Act. While broadly supporting the urgency of the proposal, it called for further justification and clarification before parliamentary debate. Several of its recommendations have since been incorporated into the final Act as submitted to the parliament, including additional safeguards, adjustments to the privacy rules and clearer provisions on data handling.
The Council of State stressed that a "whole-of-society" approach is needed: an integrated effort involving government at all levels, the private sector, and citizens. The government endorsed this view and is actively pursuing civil-military cooperation, particularly in areas such as infrastructure and logistics, healthcare and energy. Companies should proactively assess their exposure, review existing contractual arrangements with Defence (or with counterparties who supply Defence), and consider engaging with Defence at an early stage to understand what cooperation frameworks may be expected of them.
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2. The physical environment: room to operate and/or temporary derogations
Defence operates numerous sites across the Netherlands – such as training areas, barracks, and airfields – and relies on public space. Existing environmental and spatial planning laws are largely designed for peacetime conditions and can restrict essential readiness activities. The Act therefore proposes temporary derogations from rules governing the physical environment. In concrete terms, this covers readiness activities such as low-altitude helicopter flights at named training areas, F-35 fighter aircraft engine test runs, live-fire and night-shooting exercises, and high-speed sailing at the Wadden Sea (Annex I of the Act). A broader category of activities – including amphibious exercises, unmanned aircraft operations, and military vehicle movements on public roads – may be authorised on a case-by-case basis (Annex II of the Act).
For parties active in the defence sector, the Act may open significant opportunities: activities that were previously hampered by environmental or spatial planning rules may now be carried out under a statutory derogation regime. At the same time, parties should be alert to the limitations that come with this framework. For example, derogations are time-limited (up to five years, extendable once), meaning that the legal basis for certain activities has a built-in expiry date. Although the exact date of the Act’s entry into force is not yet known, this may be a useful moment to map which activities fall within the designated (categories of) activities and to review existing contractual arrangements accordingly.
The Council of State endorses the principle in the Act that, where derogations are made from rules laid down in the national Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet), obligations under international law are observed. In that regard, the Council of State expresses the importance of making optimal use of the exception provisions for defence included in the various treaties and EU legislation (including the aforementioned Defence Readiness Omnibus). With that in mind, in its advice, the Council of State questioned the need to introduce “readiness” as a separate overarching ground for derogations, noting that the existing (European and national) framework already allows defence interests to carry significant weight. In response, the government simplified and nuanced the relevant provision (Article 19.20), limiting it to stating that the special rules apply for the purpose of actual defence readiness – without elevating it to an overriding objective within the Environment and Planning Act. In addition, in response to the call of the Council of State to better substantiate the concrete legal obstacles Defence faces under the current environmental framework, the government supplemented the explanatory memorandum to the Act, giving clarity about whether the proposed derogations were necessary and in which cases they would be used.
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3. Data processing: filling any void with new processing grounds
Due to digitalisation and the rise of multi domain warfare, Defence faces significant challenges in the information domain. There has been a lack of clear legal bases for processing of personal data. The Act seeks to address this gap by introducing new legal grounds for data processing, whilst applying the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) only in part retaining its core framework but disapplying specific provisions that are incompatible with the operational realities of defence readiness.
The Act introduces a new, self-contained data processing regime. The Minister of Defence to process personal data to the extent necessary for defence readiness, drawing on sources ranging from open sources to intelligence services and allied nations, whilst expressly prohibiting systematic monitoring of individuals.
In response to the concerns raised by the Council of State on the previous draft of the Act, the government introduced strict structural safeguards. Data must be anonymised or pseudonymised where possible, and secondary purpose processing requires express ministerial authorisation and must be necessary and proportionate. For special categories and criminal conviction data is subject to a cumulative three-step test: processing must be unavoidable, supplementary to data already held, and adequately secured. Large-scale data collections require prior ministerial authorisation and a mandatory separation of functions between those assessing permissibility and those carrying out the processing.
On retention, the Act sets a two-year default, extendable to an absolute maximum of six years - a cap that was likewise introduced following scrutiny by the Council of State.
The most significant departure from the GDPR concerns individual rights, such as the rights of access, rectification, erasure and objection. These individual rights and data breach notifications are disapplied and replaced by two alternative transparency mechanisms: advance public notification of intended processing activities, and a limited individual right of access whereby any person may request confirmation of whether their personal data have been processed, to which the Minister must respond within three months. Independent oversight by the Data Protection Officer and the Dutch Data Protection Authority is expressly preserved.
Organisations operating in the defence sector should map their data flows to identify defence-related processing activities and determine whether they can rely on the new legal basis. They should also implement appropriate safeguards to manage data subject rights, particularly where those rights differ from the rights provided under the GDPR.
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4. Procurement in the context of defence readiness
The Act qualifies situations in which defence readiness is seriously hindered as a "crisis situation" within the meaning of the Defence and Security Procurement Act (Aanbestedingswet op Defensie- en Veiligheidsgebied). In practice, this classification enables Defence to make use of negotiated procurement procedures without prior publication, allowing for shorter lead times but also reducing market transparency. For suppliers to Defence, this means that single-tender negotiations may occur more frequently.
The Council of State has been critical of this approach, noting that defining readiness shortfalls as a “crisis” may be difficult to reconcile with the choice for ordinary legislation, also considering that the explanatory memorandum did not substantiate the necessity for the provision, and that the existing procurement law framework already provides for a considerable number of circumstances in which the negotiated procedure without prior publication might be applied. In response, the government further elaborated on the necessity of the provision in the explanatory memorandum and kept the article in place (in slightly adjusted form), expressly confirming that all other procurement law principles remain intact and that the provision only clarifies the scope of a “crisis situation”.
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5. Impact and entry into force
The legislative process is accelerating. The Act was formally submitted to parliament on 24 June 2026, and a procedural committee meeting of the House of Representatives' Defence Committee took place on 2 July 2026 to determine the further handling of the Act. Legislative consultations with the Defence Committee are already scheduled for 28 September and 1 October 2026.
The explanatory memorandum underlines that swift entry into force is strongly desired given the urgency of the activities the Act enables. That said, it is expected that the Act will enter into force in the course of 2027, but timing may differ per provision.
The legislative direction is nonetheless clear: the Act grants Defence greater flexibility to act more swiftly across multiple areas. Although it formally imposes no obligations on businesses - being primarily aimed at Defence and other parts of the Ministry - it may nevertheless have significant consequences for companies seeking to compete for works, services, or supply contracts relevant to defence readiness - particularly in procurement, real estate and data.
We will continue to monitor developments closely. Do you have questions about the implications of the Defence Readiness Act for your organisation? Our multidisciplinary Defence team is available to advise you.
