The Dutch privacy watchdog CBP is to be given greater powers to hand out fines, ministers said in a briefing to MPs on Monday.

Once MPs have approved the changes, the CBP will be able to fine companies which wrongly process private information, keep information longer than legally allowed and which fail to have proper security systems in place.

The CBP can currently only fine government organisations and companies which don’t inform people that their personal details are being processed.

The changes mean the CBP can ‘act more effectively against government bodies and companies which are careless with citizen’s private information,’ the ministers said.

The maximum fine the CBP can hand out is €810,000, to companies which ‘deliberately and repeatedly’ break privacy rules.