Federatief Datastelsel
The Federatief Datastelsel (Federated Data System, FDS) is the Dutch government’s data ecosystem for responsible data use between public organisations. It enables government bodies to share and leverage each other’s data — not by centralising storage, but by working in a federated way: each organisation retains ownership of its own data and exchanges it through standardised agreements.
The FDS is part of the Interbestuurlijke Datastrategie (Inter-governmental Data Strategy, IBDS) programme, executed by RealisatieIBDS.
What “federated” means
Federated is the opposite of centralised. In a federated system:
- data stays with the source owner — no central data warehouse
- agreements are standardised, not systems merged
- organisations retain autonomy over their own data and policies
- interoperability emerges from shared standards and trust
This requires technical, administrative and legal agreements to work in concert. The system’s guiding questions are:
- What is permitted? — legal and administrative frameworks for data sharing
- What is possible? — technical capabilities and standards
- What helps? — practical tools and guidance
- What inspires? — cases and examples showing what is already achievable
The platform
The platform at federatief.datastelsel.nl offers:
- Werkbank (workbench) — a knowledge base with building blocks, agreements and guidelines
- Puzzels (puzzles) — concrete cases of government organisations exchanging data
- Community — an active community of government staff, architects and policy makers
- Deelnemers (participants) — an overview of connected organisations and their contributions
The community operates through Mattermost and GitLab, following an open and transparent way of working.
Context: the Dutch government data landscape
The Netherlands has a long tradition of base registries (basisregistraties) — authoritative government datasets such as the population register (BRP), land registry (BRK) and addresses and buildings register (BAG). The FDS builds on this foundation by creating the conditions for responsible data sharing across those registries and organisations, guided by legal frameworks such as GDPR and Dutch administrative law.
The Kadaster (the Dutch land registry and mapping agency) is one of the founding participants and an active contributor to the FDS.
My role
I was seconded from the Kadaster to the RealisatieIBDS programme, working as solution architect. I was specifically involved in the formation and early development of the Federated Data System: from the initial architectural explorations through to the elaboration of concrete building blocks and agreements.
Alongside the architecture work, I contributed to the community and platform, and served as a connecting link between the technical and administrative worlds of inter-governmental data sharing.