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

Countries

ColombiaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: MediumEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Colombia does not force you to keep data inside the country. But sending personal data abroad is banned unless the destination is on an approved list, you fit an exception, or you sign a transfer contract and write to the regulator. The list is long and includes the United States. The regulator is fully staffed, fines companies most months, and in 2026 shut a foreign biometric operation for good.
The catch: The general rule is a paperwork rule, not a wall. But banks, insurers and other supervised financial firms have a second, tougher layer: before any core process runs in a cloud outside Colombia they must check the host country's laws are as strong as Colombia's, and they must tell the financial regulator the provider name and the physical region 15 days before processing starts. Credit bureau data and medical records sit under separate laws again.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. The law reaches a foreign company with no office, no branch and no local representative in Colombia, as long as it handles people's data inside Colombian territory. The regulator said exactly that in 2026 when it shut down a foreign iris-scanning operation and rejected the argument that it was out of reach. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you escape the law itself.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork. Nothing has to stay in Colombia. But the starting point in the law is a ban: you may not send personal data to a country that does not protect it well enough. The regulator publishes a list of countries that do. If your destination is on that list you can send data. If it is not, you need an exception, or a signed transfer contract plus a letter to the regulator, or the regulator's own approval.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is an approved list, and the list is genuinely full. Thirty-nine countries are named, plus every country Europe has approved. The United States is on it, which surprises people. If your destination is not listed you have four routes: an exception in the law, showing the country meets the published standards anyway, signing a transfer contract and writing to the regulator, or asking the regulator for a formal approval.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, through its Delegate Office for Personal Data Protection. It is real, staffed and busy. It published data protection penalty decisions in every month of 2026 that we checked, it runs an annual national conference, and in June 2026 it confirmed on appeal an order permanently shutting down a foreign company's biometric operation in Colombia. Banks and insurers answer to a second regulator, the Financial Superintendency, for their technology and cloud arrangements.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Colombia sets a ceiling more clearly than a floor. You may keep personal data only for as long as is reasonable and necessary for the purpose you collected it for, and then you must delete it unless a law or contract says otherwise. The sharpest fixed limits are in credit reporting: a bad payment record drops off four years after the debt is cleared, and eight years after the debt first went unpaid even if it never is. Medical records must be kept and archived under national archive rules.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Colombia's main breach clock is unusually generous: 15 working days, roughly three calendar weeks, from the moment the incident reaches the person or team responsible for handling it. Companies large enough to be on the national database register report through that register. Everyone else reports through the regulator's online form. There is no general duty to tell the affected people, though the regulator can order it.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that cost people their weekend. A child is anyone under 18, and processing their data starts from a position of being banned. The transfer contract route only works if you actually write to the regulator first. Sending data to a supplier abroad is treated as a different animal from sending it to a partner, with different paperwork. Encrypting or splitting biometric data does not make it stop being personal data. And if you are a bank or insurer, you must tell the financial regulator where in the world your cloud region is, 15 days before you switch it on.High confidence
What's about to change?: A rewrite of the 2012 privacy law is being openly discussed by the regulator itself, but it is talk and not yet a binding law. The regulator's own leadership says it wants stronger powers, more staff and more budget, and has named biometric data, identity fraud and artificial intelligence as the priorities for the coming months. In the financial sector, the open finance technology and security standards are being phased in, and the start date has already been pushed back once.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: None found.

AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Data can leave Algeria, but not freely. Every transfer abroad needs the national data protection authority's permission unless a listed exception applies, and breaking that rule is a crime carrying prison. Since July 2025 every organisation must have a data protection officer, a processing register and an automatic log of every operation. The regulator is staffed but has issued no known decisions.
The catch: The national rule is already strict, and three areas are stricter still. Online shops must run their site on servers inside Algeria under a .com.dz address. Electronic trust services, such as digital signatures and electronic identity, must host all the data they collect inside Algeria. Public bodies must exchange data only over a state-run network that is deliberately kept separate from the internet. Banking, insurance and securities have no storage rule that we could find, but the central bank's own website could not be reached, so treat that as unchecked rather than settled.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it can reach a company with no office in Algeria, but the trigger is equipment, not customers. You are covered if you are set up in Algeria, or if you use any means of processing located in Algeria, such as servers or devices. In that second case you must tell the regulator the name of a representative based in Algeria, and that person takes on your rights and duties. There is no size or revenue threshold to fall below.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with permission or a listed excuse. The starting rule is that you may only send personal data to another country if the national data protection authority allows it and that country protects privacy well enough. There is a short list of exceptions that most businesses will rely on instead, such as the person's express consent or a transfer that is needed to carry out their contract. Two things are banned outright: transfers that could harm public safety or the state's vital interests, and any processing of sensitive data such as health, religion, politics or trade union membership unless a narrow exception applies.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is case by case. Before data goes abroad you need the national data protection authority to authorise it, and the destination country must protect privacy well enough in the authority's judgement. There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract you can sign instead. In practice most companies rely on the written exceptions: the person's express consent, a transfer needed for their contract, a court claim, saving someone's life, an important public interest, an international mutual legal assistance request, medical care, or a treaty Algeria has signed.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The national data protection authority, and it does exist in real life. Fifteen members, including a president, were appointed by presidential decree on 18 May 2022 for five years, a new president was appointed in October 2023, and the authority has its own staff, pay scales, an executive secretariat, an official bulletin and internal committees. Its president was still signing published decisions in August 2025. What is missing is enforcement: in four years the official gazette shows only housekeeping texts from the authority, and no fine, order or filing procedure. Treat it as awake but not yet biting.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a floor and a ceiling, and the floor is the one people miss. Accounting books and the paperwork behind them must be kept for ten years after the end of each financial year. Telephone and internet providers must keep the data that identifies users and their connections for one year. Online sellers must keep records of every transaction and send them to the national trade register centre. The ceiling is that personal data must not be kept in a form that identifies people for longer than the purpose needs, and keeping it too long is a crime.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There is no seventy-two hour clock here, and the five-day deadline people quote is not for ordinary businesses. If you provide a service over a public electronic communications network and data is destroyed, lost, altered, disclosed or accessed without permission, you must warn the authority and the affected person straight away, with no fixed number of hours. Failing to do that is a crime punishable by one to three years in prison. The five-day deadline added in July 2025 applies to police, prosecutors, courts and prison services, not to a normal company.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that cost people their weekend. One: this is a criminal regime. Sending data abroad in breach of the rule is punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to one million dinars, roughly seven thousand seven hundred US dollars, and prison can attach to individuals. Two: since 24 July 2025 every organisation must appoint a data protection officer, keep a written register of processing and keep an automatic log recording every collection, consultation, disclosure and deletion, with no exemption for small companies. Three: sensitive data is banned by default, and consent must be express, so silence or a pre-ticked box is worth nothing. Four: anything to do with national defence and security now sits completely outside the law, so there is no privacy protection to point to there. Five: a 2021 ordinance makes it a crime to disclose classified administrative documents, it reaches acts committed outside Algeria against the Algerian state, and it can force any person to hand over stored data.High confidence
What's about to change?: Three things to watch in the next twelve months. The five-year terms of the data protection authority's members, appointed on 18 May 2022, run out in May 2027, so appointments are due. The regional inspection and audit units created for the authority in July 2025 still need an implementing regulation before inspectors can appear at your door. And the rules that switch on the new government data framework, two reference documents on classifying data and cataloguing data sources, can be published by a single decision of the High Commission for Digitalisation, at which point every public body and every company running a public service must classify and catalogue its data.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Telecoms — Loi n° 26-02 fixant les regles generales relatives aux services de confiance pour les transactions electroniques et a l'identification electronique
E-commerce — Loi n° 18-05 relative au commerce electronique
Government — Decret presidentiel n° 25-320 portant mise en place d'un dispositif national de gouvernance des donnees

The same eight topics answered for each selected country
Question	ColombiaChecked 18 August 2026	AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Yes, with paperwork Work: Medium Enforcement: Active	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Waking up
In one paragraph	Colombia does not force you to keep data inside the country. But sending personal data abroad is banned unless the destination is on an approved list, you fit an exception, or you sign a transfer contract and write to the regulator. The list is long and includes the United States. The regulator is fully staffed, fines companies most months, and in 2026 shut a foreign biometric operation for good.	Data can leave Algeria, but not freely. Every transfer abroad needs the national data protection authority's permission unless a listed exception applies, and breaking that rule is a crime carrying prison. Since July 2025 every organisation must have a data protection officer, a processing register and an automatic log of every operation. The regulator is staffed but has issued no known decisions.
The catch	The general rule is a paperwork rule, not a wall. But banks, insurers and other supervised financial firms have a second, tougher layer: before any core process runs in a cloud outside Colombia they must check the host country's laws are as strong as Colombia's, and they must tell the financial regulator the provider name and the physical region 15 days before processing starts. Credit bureau data and medical records sit under separate laws again.	The national rule is already strict, and three areas are stricter still. Online shops must run their site on servers inside Algeria under a .com.dz address. Electronic trust services, such as digital signatures and electronic identity, must host all the data they collect inside Algeria. Public bodies must exchange data only over a state-run network that is deliberately kept separate from the internet. Banking, insurance and securities have no storage rule that we could find, but the central bank's own website could not be reached, so treat that as unchecked rather than settled.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. The law reaches a foreign company with no office, no branch and no local representative in Colombia, as long as it handles people's data inside Colombian territory. The regulator said exactly that in 2026 when it shut down a foreign iris-scanning operation and rejected the argument that it was out of reach. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you escape the law itself.High confidence	Yes, it can reach a company with no office in Algeria, but the trigger is equipment, not customers. You are covered if you are set up in Algeria, or if you use any means of processing located in Algeria, such as servers or devices. In that second case you must tell the regulator the name of a representative based in Algeria, and that person takes on your rights and duties. There is no size or revenue threshold to fall below.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Yes, with paperwork. Nothing has to stay in Colombia. But the starting point in the law is a ban: you may not send personal data to a country that does not protect it well enough. The regulator publishes a list of countries that do. If your destination is on that list you can send data. If it is not, you need an exception, or a signed transfer contract plus a letter to the regulator, or the regulator's own approval.High confidence	Yes, with permission or a listed excuse. The starting rule is that you may only send personal data to another country if the national data protection authority allows it and that country protects privacy well enough. There is a short list of exceptions that most businesses will rely on instead, such as the person's express consent or a transfer that is needed to carry out their contract. Two things are banned outright: transfers that could harm public safety or the state's vital interests, and any processing of sensitive data such as health, religion, politics or trade union membership unless a narrow exception applies.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	The model is an approved list, and the list is genuinely full. Thirty-nine countries are named, plus every country Europe has approved. The United States is on it, which surprises people. If your destination is not listed you have four routes: an exception in the law, showing the country meets the published standards anyway, signing a transfer contract and writing to the regulator, or asking the regulator for a formal approval.High confidence	The model is case by case. Before data goes abroad you need the national data protection authority to authorise it, and the destination country must protect privacy well enough in the authority's judgement. There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract you can sign instead. In practice most companies rely on the written exceptions: the person's express consent, a transfer needed for their contract, a court claim, saving someone's life, an important public interest, an international mutual legal assistance request, medical care, or a treaty Algeria has signed.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, through its Delegate Office for Personal Data Protection. It is real, staffed and busy. It published data protection penalty decisions in every month of 2026 that we checked, it runs an annual national conference, and in June 2026 it confirmed on appeal an order permanently shutting down a foreign company's biometric operation in Colombia. Banks and insurers answer to a second regulator, the Financial Superintendency, for their technology and cloud arrangements.High confidence	The national data protection authority, and it does exist in real life. Fifteen members, including a president, were appointed by presidential decree on 18 May 2022 for five years, a new president was appointed in October 2023, and the authority has its own staff, pay scales, an executive secretariat, an official bulletin and internal committees. Its president was still signing published decisions in August 2025. What is missing is enforcement: in four years the official gazette shows only housekeeping texts from the authority, and no fine, order or filing procedure. Treat it as awake but not yet biting.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	Colombia sets a ceiling more clearly than a floor. You may keep personal data only for as long as is reasonable and necessary for the purpose you collected it for, and then you must delete it unless a law or contract says otherwise. The sharpest fixed limits are in credit reporting: a bad payment record drops off four years after the debt is cleared, and eight years after the debt first went unpaid even if it never is. Medical records must be kept and archived under national archive rules.Medium confidence	There is a floor and a ceiling, and the floor is the one people miss. Accounting books and the paperwork behind them must be kept for ten years after the end of each financial year. Telephone and internet providers must keep the data that identifies users and their connections for one year. Online sellers must keep records of every transaction and send them to the national trade register centre. The ceiling is that personal data must not be kept in a form that identifies people for longer than the purpose needs, and keeping it too long is a crime.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	Colombia's main breach clock is unusually generous: 15 working days, roughly three calendar weeks, from the moment the incident reaches the person or team responsible for handling it. Companies large enough to be on the national database register report through that register. Everyone else reports through the regulator's online form. There is no general duty to tell the affected people, though the regulator can order it.High confidence	There is no seventy-two hour clock here, and the five-day deadline people quote is not for ordinary businesses. If you provide a service over a public electronic communications network and data is destroyed, lost, altered, disclosed or accessed without permission, you must warn the authority and the affected person straight away, with no fixed number of hours. Failing to do that is a crime punishable by one to three years in prison. The five-day deadline added in July 2025 applies to police, prosecutors, courts and prison services, not to a normal company.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things that cost people their weekend. A child is anyone under 18, and processing their data starts from a position of being banned. The transfer contract route only works if you actually write to the regulator first. Sending data to a supplier abroad is treated as a different animal from sending it to a partner, with different paperwork. Encrypting or splitting biometric data does not make it stop being personal data. And if you are a bank or insurer, you must tell the financial regulator where in the world your cloud region is, 15 days before you switch it on.High confidence	Five things that cost people their weekend. One: this is a criminal regime. Sending data abroad in breach of the rule is punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to one million dinars, roughly seven thousand seven hundred US dollars, and prison can attach to individuals. Two: since 24 July 2025 every organisation must appoint a data protection officer, keep a written register of processing and keep an automatic log recording every collection, consultation, disclosure and deletion, with no exemption for small companies. Three: sensitive data is banned by default, and consent must be express, so silence or a pre-ticked box is worth nothing. Four: anything to do with national defence and security now sits completely outside the law, so there is no privacy protection to point to there. Five: a 2021 ordinance makes it a crime to disclose classified administrative documents, it reaches acts committed outside Algeria against the Algerian state, and it can force any person to hand over stored data.High confidence
What's about to change?	A rewrite of the 2012 privacy law is being openly discussed by the regulator itself, but it is talk and not yet a binding law. The regulator's own leadership says it wants stronger powers, more staff and more budget, and has named biometric data, identity fraud and artificial intelligence as the priorities for the coming months. In the financial sector, the open finance technology and security standards are being phased in, and the start date has already been pushed back once.Medium confidence	Three things to watch in the next twelve months. The five-year terms of the data protection authority's members, appointed on 18 May 2022, run out in May 2027, so appointments are due. The regional inspection and audit units created for the authority in July 2025 still need an implementing regulation before inspectors can appear at your door. And the rules that switch on the new government data framework, two reference documents on classifying data and cataloguing data sources, can be published by a single decision of the High Commission for Digitalisation, at which point every public body and every company running a public service must classify and catalogue its data.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	None found.	Telecoms — Loi n° 26-02 fixant les regles generales relatives aux services de confiance pour les transactions electroniques et a l'identification electronique E-commerce — Loi n° 18-05 relative au commerce electronique Government — Decret presidentiel n° 25-320 portant mise en place d'un dispositif national de gouvernance des donnees