MPs have urged the government to stop migrating confidential information about tax returns, contracts, and medical records to US cloud services, saying they are a threat to Dutch cyber security.

In addition, the government should work on developing its own cloud for keeping digital records, MPs said during a debate on Tuesday.

A majority of MPs voted in favour of a motion drawn up by GroenLinks-PvdA MP Barbara Kathmann calling for an end to the use of US services provided by the likes of Microsoft and Amazon. Under the US Cloud Act, cloud service providers can be required by law to make information available to government authorities, even if the storage is in Europe.

Last month, digitalisation minister Zsolt Szabó told Dutch News that officials are continuing to revise the government’s approach to cloud storage services in the wake of an audit office report, which warned about over-reliance on US cloud companies.

In total, auditors examined the way government ministries use cloud storage to manage 1,588 services, of which 700 are based on open services offered by American companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

“There is a risk that foreign governments, particularly the US, could access or even amend information from the Dutch government or private individuals,” audit office spokesman Ewout Irrgang said. “Whether they actually do is a different matter, but the option is there.”

Szabó declined to comment on the potential security implications of the US regime change but stressed that “security is paramount, and we must be sure we take the right decisions.”

Last year Dutch domain registration foundation SIDN said it planned to transfer the dot nl domain and its “complete ICT services” to Amazon’s cloud services, a move which is also now under fire.