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Two or three countries, side by side, one row per question. Pick up to 3.

Countries

ArgentinaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: MediumEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Argentina lets personal data leave the country, but only on paper terms it sets. You either send it to a country the regulator has approved, or you sign the regulator's own model contract with the receiver. No industry has to keep data inside Argentina. Fines are tiny in dollars, but the regulator can order a database shut down, and some misuse is a crime.
The catch: There is no data-residency wall in Argentina, but four sector rules still catch people out. Banks and payment firms must run their technology and security management from inside Argentina, must tell the banking supervisor before they outsource, and must report a cyber incident within one hour. Government bodies must have a working backup data centre by late 2026. And nobody may publish a map showing Argentine territory without the national mapping agency's prior approval.
Does this apply to me?: The main privacy law is Ley 25.326, passed in 2000. It covers personal data held in any file or database in Argentina, public or private. There is no size threshold, no revenue threshold, and no duty to appoint a local representative. The law does not clearly say it reaches a foreign company with no presence in Argentina, and in practice the regulator has acted against local subsidiaries of global firms rather than against foreign entities directly.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork. The rule is that personal data may not go to a country that does not protect it well enough. The regulator publishes a list of countries it accepts, and for everywhere else you sign its model contract with the receiver. We looked for industries that must keep data inside Argentina - banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, telecoms, government cloud and mapping - and found none as of 18 August 2026.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is an approved-destinations list, and it is populated today with about a dozen places, including the whole European Union. If your destination is not on it, use the regulator's published model contract - two versions, one for handing data to another company that decides how to use it and one for a supplier processing it for you. Using the published wording needs no permission. If you change the wording, you must file the contract with the regulator within 30 days of signing.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Agency for Access to Public Information, known by its Spanish initials AAIP, enforces both privacy and freedom of information. It is real and working: it has a named head, it publishes a register of final penalties that was updated on 3 July 2026, it opened a public investigation into debt-collection calls in April 2026, and it chaired an international data-protection committee in July 2026. Its 244 final penalties are mostly small, and more than half are for calling people on the do-not-call list.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Argentina has strong floors and one hard ceiling. Anti-money-laundering rules make banks, insurers, crypto firms, accountants and estate agents keep transaction records and customer files for at least ten years. Clinical records must be kept ten years from the last entry. Banks must keep audit and accounting support data six years and produce it immediately on demand. The ceiling: credit-reporting data may only show the last five years, dropping to two years once the debt is paid.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There is no general duty to report a data breach in Argentina, checked on 18 August 2026 - the privacy law has no deadline and the regulator's security rules are recommendations, not commands. Finance is the exception and the clock is brutal: banks and registered payment firms must tell the banking supervisor within one hour of an incident happening or being spotted, keep sending updates, and file a closing report within five days.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things bite people. Answer times are very short: ten days for an access request and five working days to correct or delete. The maximum fine is one hundred thousand pesos, about seventy US dollars, so the real risk is a shutdown order or a criminal case, not the fine. Databases still have to be registered. Publishing a map of Argentina needs government approval first. And a bank cannot run its technology and security management from abroad.High confidence
What's about to change?: Nothing is scheduled to replace the privacy law. A reform bill went to Congress in 2023 and never became law; the regulator is still campaigning for a new one. The dated thing to watch is government cybersecurity: public bodies have about 180 days from 13 May 2026 to have contingency plans and a working alternative data centre, which lands around November 2026, and a new national cybersecurity centre started issuing rules in 2026.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: None found.

United KingdomChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Data can leave the United Kingdom, but you need the right paperwork first. Sending it to Europe or to about fifteen other approved places needs nothing extra. Anywhere else needs a government-published contract and a risk check. No general law forces data to stay in Britain. The privacy regulator is busy and its fines are getting bigger.
The catch: The easy headline stops being true in three places. Telecoms operators must keep backup copies of key network information inside the United Kingdom. National Health Service patient records may only be sent to countries the United Kingdom has formally approved, which rules out the standard contract route. And government material classified SECRET or above cannot sit in public cloud at all. Everyone else can store data abroad with the right contract in place.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. British privacy law reaches a company anywhere in the world if it deliberately offers goods or services to people in the United Kingdom, or watches what they do online. There is no size or revenue floor to hide under. If you are caught and have no British office, you generally have to name a representative in the United Kingdom, unless you are a public body or your processing is rare and low risk.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork. The United Kingdom has no general law forcing data to stay in the country. Send it to the European Economic Area or another approved country and you need nothing extra; send it anywhere else and you need an approved contract plus a written risk assessment. Three industries are stricter: telecoms, the health service and classified government work. Banking, payments, insurance, securities, education, online gambling and mapping have no location rule that we could find.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is an approved-list one. If the destination is on the government's approved list you may send data with no extra paperwork. If it is not, you must sign the government's own contract template and run a risk assessment first. The list is well populated: the whole European Economic Area plus Andorra, Argentina, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland and Uruguay, with partial cover for Canada, Japan and the United States.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Information Commissioner's Office, and it is very much working. It fined Capita fourteen million pounds (about $18 million) in October 2025, Reddit £14.47 million (about $18.5 million) in February 2026, and the owner of Imgur in the same month, and it issues smaller marketing fines almost monthly. Watch a quirk: a replacement body called the Information Commission legally exists but had no staff and did no work in its first financial year, so the old office is still the one that acts.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is no single deletion deadline. The rule is that you keep personal data only as long as you actually need it, and you must be able to explain the period you chose. Pulling the other way are minimum keeping periods: company and tax records for six years, telecoms connection records for up to twelve months if the government serves a notice, and telecoms security data for thirteen months. Where a minimum and a maximum clash, the legal duty to keep wins and you keep the data.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count at least three clocks. Any organisation has 72 hours to tell the privacy regulator about a personal data breach, and must tell the affected people if the risk to them is high. Telecoms and internet providers also have 72 hours under the electronic communications rules — that used to be 24 hours and quietly changed on 20 August 2025. Operators of essential services such as water, energy and transport have their own 72-hour clock to their own regulator.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five. (1) A child can consent at 13 here, not 16 — but the children's design code covers everyone under 18, and the regulator fined Reddit £14.47 million (about $18.5 million) for weak age checks. (2) Telecoms firms must keep some backup data physically in Britain. (3) Health service data can only go to approved countries, so the standard contract does not help you. (4) Misusing personal data can be a crime, not just a fine. (5) The government can secretly order a company to weaken its security, and Apple is fighting one of those orders right now.Medium confidence
What's about to change?: Two things to watch in the next twelve months. A cyber security bill is going through Parliament and will widen incident reporting to data centres and managed service suppliers — it is not law yet, so do not plan as if it were. And the privacy regulator is due to be replaced by a new body called the Information Commission, but only once ministers lay the paperwork, which had not happened by mid-2026. The regulator is also writing a statutory code on artificial intelligence.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Telecoms — The Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022, with the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2026 (version 1.1)

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	ArgentinaChecked 18 August 2026	United KingdomChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Yes, with paperwork Work: Medium Enforcement: Active	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Argentina lets personal data leave the country, but only on paper terms it sets. You either send it to a country the regulator has approved, or you sign the regulator's own model contract with the receiver. No industry has to keep data inside Argentina. Fines are tiny in dollars, but the regulator can order a database shut down, and some misuse is a crime.	Data can leave the United Kingdom, but you need the right paperwork first. Sending it to Europe or to about fifteen other approved places needs nothing extra. Anywhere else needs a government-published contract and a risk check. No general law forces data to stay in Britain. The privacy regulator is busy and its fines are getting bigger.
The catch	There is no data-residency wall in Argentina, but four sector rules still catch people out. Banks and payment firms must run their technology and security management from inside Argentina, must tell the banking supervisor before they outsource, and must report a cyber incident within one hour. Government bodies must have a working backup data centre by late 2026. And nobody may publish a map showing Argentine territory without the national mapping agency's prior approval.	The easy headline stops being true in three places. Telecoms operators must keep backup copies of key network information inside the United Kingdom. National Health Service patient records may only be sent to countries the United Kingdom has formally approved, which rules out the standard contract route. And government material classified SECRET or above cannot sit in public cloud at all. Everyone else can store data abroad with the right contract in place.
Does this apply to me?	The main privacy law is Ley 25.326, passed in 2000. It covers personal data held in any file or database in Argentina, public or private. There is no size threshold, no revenue threshold, and no duty to appoint a local representative. The law does not clearly say it reaches a foreign company with no presence in Argentina, and in practice the regulator has acted against local subsidiaries of global firms rather than against foreign entities directly.High confidence	Yes. British privacy law reaches a company anywhere in the world if it deliberately offers goods or services to people in the United Kingdom, or watches what they do online. There is no size or revenue floor to hide under. If you are caught and have no British office, you generally have to name a representative in the United Kingdom, unless you are a public body or your processing is rare and low risk.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Yes, with paperwork. The rule is that personal data may not go to a country that does not protect it well enough. The regulator publishes a list of countries it accepts, and for everywhere else you sign its model contract with the receiver. We looked for industries that must keep data inside Argentina - banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, telecoms, government cloud and mapping - and found none as of 18 August 2026.High confidence	Yes, with paperwork. The United Kingdom has no general law forcing data to stay in the country. Send it to the European Economic Area or another approved country and you need nothing extra; send it anywhere else and you need an approved contract plus a written risk assessment. Three industries are stricter: telecoms, the health service and classified government work. Banking, payments, insurance, securities, education, online gambling and mapping have no location rule that we could find.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	The model is an approved-destinations list, and it is populated today with about a dozen places, including the whole European Union. If your destination is not on it, use the regulator's published model contract - two versions, one for handing data to another company that decides how to use it and one for a supplier processing it for you. Using the published wording needs no permission. If you change the wording, you must file the contract with the regulator within 30 days of signing.High confidence	The model is an approved-list one. If the destination is on the government's approved list you may send data with no extra paperwork. If it is not, you must sign the government's own contract template and run a risk assessment first. The list is well populated: the whole European Economic Area plus Andorra, Argentina, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland and Uruguay, with partial cover for Canada, Japan and the United States.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Agency for Access to Public Information, known by its Spanish initials AAIP, enforces both privacy and freedom of information. It is real and working: it has a named head, it publishes a register of final penalties that was updated on 3 July 2026, it opened a public investigation into debt-collection calls in April 2026, and it chaired an international data-protection committee in July 2026. Its 244 final penalties are mostly small, and more than half are for calling people on the do-not-call list.High confidence	The Information Commissioner's Office, and it is very much working. It fined Capita fourteen million pounds (about $18 million) in October 2025, Reddit £14.47 million (about $18.5 million) in February 2026, and the owner of Imgur in the same month, and it issues smaller marketing fines almost monthly. Watch a quirk: a replacement body called the Information Commission legally exists but had no staff and did no work in its first financial year, so the old office is still the one that acts.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	Argentina has strong floors and one hard ceiling. Anti-money-laundering rules make banks, insurers, crypto firms, accountants and estate agents keep transaction records and customer files for at least ten years. Clinical records must be kept ten years from the last entry. Banks must keep audit and accounting support data six years and produce it immediately on demand. The ceiling: credit-reporting data may only show the last five years, dropping to two years once the debt is paid.High confidence	There is no single deletion deadline. The rule is that you keep personal data only as long as you actually need it, and you must be able to explain the period you chose. Pulling the other way are minimum keeping periods: company and tax records for six years, telecoms connection records for up to twelve months if the government serves a notice, and telecoms security data for thirteen months. Where a minimum and a maximum clash, the legal duty to keep wins and you keep the data.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	There is no general duty to report a data breach in Argentina, checked on 18 August 2026 - the privacy law has no deadline and the regulator's security rules are recommendations, not commands. Finance is the exception and the clock is brutal: banks and registered payment firms must tell the banking supervisor within one hour of an incident happening or being spotted, keep sending updates, and file a closing report within five days.High confidence	Count at least three clocks. Any organisation has 72 hours to tell the privacy regulator about a personal data breach, and must tell the affected people if the risk to them is high. Telecoms and internet providers also have 72 hours under the electronic communications rules — that used to be 24 hours and quietly changed on 20 August 2025. Operators of essential services such as water, energy and transport have their own 72-hour clock to their own regulator.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things bite people. Answer times are very short: ten days for an access request and five working days to correct or delete. The maximum fine is one hundred thousand pesos, about seventy US dollars, so the real risk is a shutdown order or a criminal case, not the fine. Databases still have to be registered. Publishing a map of Argentina needs government approval first. And a bank cannot run its technology and security management from abroad.High confidence	Five. (1) A child can consent at 13 here, not 16 — but the children's design code covers everyone under 18, and the regulator fined Reddit £14.47 million (about $18.5 million) for weak age checks. (2) Telecoms firms must keep some backup data physically in Britain. (3) Health service data can only go to approved countries, so the standard contract does not help you. (4) Misusing personal data can be a crime, not just a fine. (5) The government can secretly order a company to weaken its security, and Apple is fighting one of those orders right now.Medium confidence
What's about to change?	Nothing is scheduled to replace the privacy law. A reform bill went to Congress in 2023 and never became law; the regulator is still campaigning for a new one. The dated thing to watch is government cybersecurity: public bodies have about 180 days from 13 May 2026 to have contingency plans and a working alternative data centre, which lands around November 2026, and a new national cybersecurity centre started issuing rules in 2026.Medium confidence	Two things to watch in the next twelve months. A cyber security bill is going through Parliament and will widen incident reporting to data centres and managed service suppliers — it is not law yet, so do not plan as if it were. And the privacy regulator is due to be replaced by a new body called the Information Commission, but only once ministers lay the paperwork, which had not happened by mid-2026. The regulator is also writing a statutory code on artificial intelligence.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	None found.	Telecoms — The Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022, with the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2026 (version 1.1)