Compare countries

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

Countries

BrazilChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Brazil does not force data to stay inside the country. Personal data can leave, but since August 2025 you normally need a contract written by the regulator, word for word, signed with whoever receives it. Sending data to the European Union needs nothing extra. The regulator is awake and has started switching features off large platforms.
The catch: Brazil is often listed as a data-localisation country. It is not one. The old rule that pushed federal government email and data onto Brazilian systems was scrapped in 2018, and today's federal cloud rules do not require Brazilian soil. The real constraints are different in shape: banks must keep the central bank able to reach their data wherever it sits, and since July 2026 digital platforms must have an actual office and a legal representative inside Brazil.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Brazil's privacy law reaches a company with no office in Brazil, as long as it collects data in Brazil or offers goods or services to people here. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you out. The privacy law itself does not make you appoint anyone local — but two newer rules do, and if you run a digital platform you now need a registered office and a legal representative in Brazil.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork. Brazil has no rule making anyone keep a copy of anything inside the country — not for banks, not for hospitals, not even for the federal government's own cloud. What it has instead is a permission slip: before personal data leaves, you need one of a short list of approved legal grounds. Industry rules add conditions on top, but none of them is a wall.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Pick one of five routes. The easy one is the European Union: since January 2026 Brazil treats it as safe, so nothing extra is needed. For everywhere else, the normal route is a set of standard contractual clauses that the regulator itself wrote — you copy them into your contract exactly, and you may not edit them. A deadline to retrofit older contracts already passed, on 23 August 2025.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The National Data Protection Authority, and it is genuinely working. A law passed in February 2026 gave it real independence, 200 new specialist jobs and its own budget. In August 2026 it ordered Discord to switch off live video streaming in Brazil within three working days, to protect children. Banking, telecoms, insurance and securities regulators enforce their own rules in parallel and have done so for years.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions, and they pull against each other. The floor: internet access providers must keep connection records for one year, websites and apps must keep access records for six months, and tax records need five years. The ceiling: the privacy law says personal data must be deleted once you have finished doing what you collected it for. Where the two clash, the legal duty to keep wins — the law lists that as an express reason to hold on.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count three clocks, not one. Privacy: three working days to tell the regulator AND the affected people, once you have confirmed a breach that could really hurt them. Platform content: two hours to take down intimate images shared without consent, once notified. On top of that, banks report incidents to the central bank and telecoms operators report to the telecoms regulator under their own separate timetables.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five. (1) Your European standard contract is not automatically good enough — Brazil wrote its own clauses and you must copy them exactly, unedited, and the deadline to fix old contracts passed on 23 August 2025. (2) A child in Brazil is under 12 and an adolescent is 12 to 17, but the social media rule bites at 16 — accounts for anyone up to 16 must be tied to a parent's account, and asking users to state their own age is banned. (3) Since 20 July 2026 a digital platform needs an actual registered office in Brazil, not just a lawyer on retainer. (4) The biggest fine is not in the privacy law: the internet law allows up to 10 percent of your group's Brazilian revenue. (5) The regulator can order your database blocked or your processing suspended, which usually hurts more than any cheque.High confidence
What's about to change?: One firm date: January 2027, when the regulator moves from monitoring platforms to full enforcement of the children's digital rules. Brazil's artificial intelligence bill is still only a bill — it was sitting in a committee waiting for a report as recently as June 2026, so do not plan around it. The bigger risk is not new law: it is that the regulator can add or withdraw approved destinations for data transfers by publishing a single resolution, with no consultation.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: None found.

ItalyChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Aggressive

In one paragraph: Italy does not make ordinary business data stay in Italy. European rules decide when data may leave Europe, and Italy layers its own rules on top. But the moment you sell to the Italian state — a ministry, a town hall, a hospital, a school — the picture changes completely. The most sensitive government data has to sit on machines inside Italy, run from Italy.
The catch: "Italy has no data localisation" holds right up until your customer is a public body. Italian government data is sorted into ordinary, critical and strategic. Strategic data belongs on Italian soil under Italian operational control; critical data may not go on a public cloud outside Europe. On top of that, a cloud provider needs a licence from the national cyber agency before any public body is allowed to buy from it at all. Separately, telecoms companies must keep call and connection records for years, and the government can attach storage-location conditions to fifth-generation mobile and cloud contracts case by case.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it reaches you with no office in Italy. European law applies to any organisation anywhere that offers goods or services to people in Italy, or that monitors what they do online. There is no size or revenue threshold to duck under. If you have no branch anywhere in Europe, you must appoint a written representative based in Europe, and people and regulators can go to that representative instead of chasing you abroad.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: For a normal private company, yes — with paperwork, exactly as anywhere else in Europe. Italy has no general law saying personal data must be stored in Italy. The real walls are in one place: anything sold to or run by the Italian public sector. Government data is graded ordinary, critical or strategic, and the top two grades cannot sit on a public cloud outside Europe, with strategic data confined to infrastructure inside Italy and operated from Italy.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Three routes, and they are European rather than Italian. Best case, the destination is on Europe's official approved list and you need nothing extra. Otherwise you sign Europe's standard contract with the recipient, or get group-wide internal rules approved by a regulator. With the last two you must also write down an assessment of whether the destination country's surveillance laws would undermine the protection. Italy adds no extra permission step, but it does add a criminal offence for getting it badly wrong.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Italian data protection authority, known as the Garante, and it is one of the busiest and boldest regulators in Europe. In 2025 alone it took 807 decisions, of which 506 were corrective or punitive, ran 130 inspections and collected more than 37 million euros (about 41 million dollars) in fines. It was the first regulator in the world to order a temporary halt to a major chatbot service, and it has since blocked or restricted several artificial intelligence products. Cybersecurity is enforced by a separate agency.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions, and they pull hard against each other. The floors: telephone records must be kept 24 months, internet connection records 12 months, unanswered calls 30 days, and a separate six-year rule applies for terrorism and serious crime. Health records in the national system are erased 30 years after the patient dies. The ceiling is much tighter than people expect: the regulator says the technical logs behind staff email may normally be kept for no more than 21 days.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count at least three clocks, and they run at the same time. A personal data breach goes to the Garante within 72 hours, and to the people affected without delay where the risk to them is high. If you are in scope of Italy's network security regime, a first warning goes to the national cyber agency within 24 hours, a fuller notification within 72 hours, and a final report within a month. Organisations inside the national cyber perimeter have a much shorter fuse, reported as six hours.Medium confidence
What's the trap?: Five. One: staff email logs may normally be kept only 21 days, and a regional government was punished in 2025 for keeping 90. Two: before you install any tool that could monitor employees, you need a union agreement or a labour inspectorate permit, and skipping it is a criminal matter, not a fine. Three: some data offences in Italy carry prison, not just penalties. Four: children can consent at 14 in Italy, not 16. Five: the widely reported rule forcing public-sector artificial intelligence onto Italian servers was deleted before the law passed, so citing it is wrong.High confidence
What's about to change?: Two firm dates and one open wound. By 31 October 2026 organisations in Italy's network security regime must have their basic security measures in place and evidenced. From 12 January 2027 every cloud provider must charge nothing for switching away or pulling data out. The open wound is the Italian regulator itself: one of four board seats has been empty since January 2026 and Parliament has not filled it.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Government — Regolamento unico per le infrastrutture e i servizi cloud per la PA — Determinazione ACN n. 21007/24

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	BrazilChecked 18 August 2026	ItalyChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Active	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Aggressive
In one paragraph	Brazil does not force data to stay inside the country. Personal data can leave, but since August 2025 you normally need a contract written by the regulator, word for word, signed with whoever receives it. Sending data to the European Union needs nothing extra. The regulator is awake and has started switching features off large platforms.	Italy does not make ordinary business data stay in Italy. European rules decide when data may leave Europe, and Italy layers its own rules on top. But the moment you sell to the Italian state — a ministry, a town hall, a hospital, a school — the picture changes completely. The most sensitive government data has to sit on machines inside Italy, run from Italy.
The catch	Brazil is often listed as a data-localisation country. It is not one. The old rule that pushed federal government email and data onto Brazilian systems was scrapped in 2018, and today's federal cloud rules do not require Brazilian soil. The real constraints are different in shape: banks must keep the central bank able to reach their data wherever it sits, and since July 2026 digital platforms must have an actual office and a legal representative inside Brazil.	"Italy has no data localisation" holds right up until your customer is a public body. Italian government data is sorted into ordinary, critical and strategic. Strategic data belongs on Italian soil under Italian operational control; critical data may not go on a public cloud outside Europe. On top of that, a cloud provider needs a licence from the national cyber agency before any public body is allowed to buy from it at all. Separately, telecoms companies must keep call and connection records for years, and the government can attach storage-location conditions to fifth-generation mobile and cloud contracts case by case.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. Brazil's privacy law reaches a company with no office in Brazil, as long as it collects data in Brazil or offers goods or services to people here. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you out. The privacy law itself does not make you appoint anyone local — but two newer rules do, and if you run a digital platform you now need a registered office and a legal representative in Brazil.High confidence	Yes, it reaches you with no office in Italy. European law applies to any organisation anywhere that offers goods or services to people in Italy, or that monitors what they do online. There is no size or revenue threshold to duck under. If you have no branch anywhere in Europe, you must appoint a written representative based in Europe, and people and regulators can go to that representative instead of chasing you abroad.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Yes, with paperwork. Brazil has no rule making anyone keep a copy of anything inside the country — not for banks, not for hospitals, not even for the federal government's own cloud. What it has instead is a permission slip: before personal data leaves, you need one of a short list of approved legal grounds. Industry rules add conditions on top, but none of them is a wall.High confidence	For a normal private company, yes — with paperwork, exactly as anywhere else in Europe. Italy has no general law saying personal data must be stored in Italy. The real walls are in one place: anything sold to or run by the Italian public sector. Government data is graded ordinary, critical or strategic, and the top two grades cannot sit on a public cloud outside Europe, with strategic data confined to infrastructure inside Italy and operated from Italy.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	Pick one of five routes. The easy one is the European Union: since January 2026 Brazil treats it as safe, so nothing extra is needed. For everywhere else, the normal route is a set of standard contractual clauses that the regulator itself wrote — you copy them into your contract exactly, and you may not edit them. A deadline to retrofit older contracts already passed, on 23 August 2025.High confidence	Three routes, and they are European rather than Italian. Best case, the destination is on Europe's official approved list and you need nothing extra. Otherwise you sign Europe's standard contract with the recipient, or get group-wide internal rules approved by a regulator. With the last two you must also write down an assessment of whether the destination country's surveillance laws would undermine the protection. Italy adds no extra permission step, but it does add a criminal offence for getting it badly wrong.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The National Data Protection Authority, and it is genuinely working. A law passed in February 2026 gave it real independence, 200 new specialist jobs and its own budget. In August 2026 it ordered Discord to switch off live video streaming in Brazil within three working days, to protect children. Banking, telecoms, insurance and securities regulators enforce their own rules in parallel and have done so for years.High confidence	The Italian data protection authority, known as the Garante, and it is one of the busiest and boldest regulators in Europe. In 2025 alone it took 807 decisions, of which 506 were corrective or punitive, ran 130 inspections and collected more than 37 million euros (about 41 million dollars) in fines. It was the first regulator in the world to order a temporary halt to a major chatbot service, and it has since blocked or restricted several artificial intelligence products. Cybersecurity is enforced by a separate agency.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	Both directions, and they pull against each other. The floor: internet access providers must keep connection records for one year, websites and apps must keep access records for six months, and tax records need five years. The ceiling: the privacy law says personal data must be deleted once you have finished doing what you collected it for. Where the two clash, the legal duty to keep wins — the law lists that as an express reason to hold on.High confidence	Both directions, and they pull hard against each other. The floors: telephone records must be kept 24 months, internet connection records 12 months, unanswered calls 30 days, and a separate six-year rule applies for terrorism and serious crime. Health records in the national system are erased 30 years after the patient dies. The ceiling is much tighter than people expect: the regulator says the technical logs behind staff email may normally be kept for no more than 21 days.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	Count three clocks, not one. Privacy: three working days to tell the regulator AND the affected people, once you have confirmed a breach that could really hurt them. Platform content: two hours to take down intimate images shared without consent, once notified. On top of that, banks report incidents to the central bank and telecoms operators report to the telecoms regulator under their own separate timetables.High confidence	Count at least three clocks, and they run at the same time. A personal data breach goes to the Garante within 72 hours, and to the people affected without delay where the risk to them is high. If you are in scope of Italy's network security regime, a first warning goes to the national cyber agency within 24 hours, a fuller notification within 72 hours, and a final report within a month. Organisations inside the national cyber perimeter have a much shorter fuse, reported as six hours.Medium confidence
What's the trap?	Five. (1) Your European standard contract is not automatically good enough — Brazil wrote its own clauses and you must copy them exactly, unedited, and the deadline to fix old contracts passed on 23 August 2025. (2) A child in Brazil is under 12 and an adolescent is 12 to 17, but the social media rule bites at 16 — accounts for anyone up to 16 must be tied to a parent's account, and asking users to state their own age is banned. (3) Since 20 July 2026 a digital platform needs an actual registered office in Brazil, not just a lawyer on retainer. (4) The biggest fine is not in the privacy law: the internet law allows up to 10 percent of your group's Brazilian revenue. (5) The regulator can order your database blocked or your processing suspended, which usually hurts more than any cheque.High confidence	Five. One: staff email logs may normally be kept only 21 days, and a regional government was punished in 2025 for keeping 90. Two: before you install any tool that could monitor employees, you need a union agreement or a labour inspectorate permit, and skipping it is a criminal matter, not a fine. Three: some data offences in Italy carry prison, not just penalties. Four: children can consent at 14 in Italy, not 16. Five: the widely reported rule forcing public-sector artificial intelligence onto Italian servers was deleted before the law passed, so citing it is wrong.High confidence
What's about to change?	One firm date: January 2027, when the regulator moves from monitoring platforms to full enforcement of the children's digital rules. Brazil's artificial intelligence bill is still only a bill — it was sitting in a committee waiting for a report as recently as June 2026, so do not plan around it. The bigger risk is not new law: it is that the regulator can add or withdraw approved destinations for data transfers by publishing a single resolution, with no consultation.High confidence	Two firm dates and one open wound. By 31 October 2026 organisations in Italy's network security regime must have their basic security measures in place and evidenced. From 12 January 2027 every cloud provider must charge nothing for switching away or pulling data out. The open wound is the Italian regulator itself: one of four board seats has been empty since January 2026 and Parliament has not filled it.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall	None found.	Government — Regolamento unico per le infrastrutture e i servizi cloud per la PA — Determinazione ACN n. 21007/24