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Countries

CzechiaChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Czechia follows the European rulebook. Ordinary data can leave the country, and leave Europe, if you use an approved European transfer route. Two industries differ: online gambling servers must sit inside the European Union, and cloud sold to Czech government at the top security grade must keep data in Europe. The privacy regulator works well, but is banned by law from fining government bodies.
The catch: The relaxed headline stops being true in two places. If you run online gambling for Czech players, your game server must be physically inside an European Union country. If you sell cloud services to Czech public bodies and want the top security grade, customer data at rest must stay inside the European Union or the European Free Trade Association area, unless the national cyber agency has published a formal exemption for your service. Telecoms firms also face a six-month duty to keep records of who contacted whom, which Czechia's own Supreme Court said in January 2026 breaks European law but which nobody has repealed.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation applies directly in Czechia, and it reaches a company anywhere in the world that offers goods or services to people in Czechia or watches what they do online. There is no minimum size or revenue. If you are outside Europe and caught by the rules, you must appoint a written representative inside Europe.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general yes, with paperwork. Czechia adds no national storage rule on top of the European regime, so ordinary personal data can sit in a data centre outside Czechia and outside Europe if you use an approved transfer route. Two sectors break that pattern: online gambling and cloud sold to government at the top security grade. A third, telecoms, has a records-keeping duty that is legally contested.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Use one of the European routes. Send data to a country Europe has formally approved, or sign the European standard contract clauses, or set up binding corporate rules for your group. Czechia adds no national approval step and keeps no national list of banned countries. Before you send data somewhere without an approval decision, you are expected to check whether the destination's surveillance laws would undermine your safeguards.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: Yes, the regulators here really work. The Office for Personal Data Protection has a president, Jiří Kaucký, reappointed for a second term by the country's President on 26 August 2025. In 2025 it received 3,854 complaints and notifications, opened 27 inspections and imposed 7 fines totalling about 14.7 million Czech koruna, roughly 700,000 US dollars. It publishes an inspection plan for the year ahead. The cyber agency is busier still. But the privacy office is forbidden by Czech law from fining any government body.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions apply, and they collide. The ceiling comes from the European rule: delete personal data once the purpose is finished. The floors come from sector laws. Telecoms firms must keep records of who contacted whom for six months. Gambling operators must keep customer identification records for ten years and betting records for two. Accounting and tax records run for years and are being rewritten. Where a floor and the ceiling conflict, the floor wins, because keeping data to obey a law is itself a lawful reason to keep it.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count three clocks. A personal data breach goes to the privacy office within 72 hours, and to affected people without undue delay if the risk to them is high. A cyber incident at an organisation registered under the Cybersecurity Act goes to the cyber agency within 24 hours if you are in the higher tier, or 72 hours in the lower tier, with a final report inside 30 days. Financial firms have a separate European clock of their own. Many companies are caught by two of these at once.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that cost people their weekend. (1) A Czech child can consent to online services at 15, not 16. (2) Mishandling personal data can be a crime, not just a fine. (3) The privacy office cannot fine a government body at all, so if a public authority leaks your data there is no fine to point at. (4) Telecoms firms must keep six months of contact records that Czechia's own Supreme Court said in January 2026 breaks European law, yet the duty still stands. (5) The Czech platform regulator exists but cannot inspect or fine anybody yet.High confidence
What's about to change?: Four things to watch in the next twelve months. Telecoms retention is legally unstable after the Supreme Court's January 2026 ruling and something has to give. The Czech bill that would give the platform regulator real powers is still in parliament. A new law on state data sharing was signed on 28 April 2026 but its obligations only start in 2028 and 2029. And across Europe, cloud switching charges must fall to zero by 12 January 2027.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Government — Vyhláška č. 316/2021 Sb., o některých požadavcích pro zápis do katalogu cloud computingu
Online gaming — Zákon č. 186/2016 Sb., o hazardních hrách

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	CzechiaChecked 18 August 2026	AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Active	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Waking up
In one paragraph	Czechia follows the European rulebook. Ordinary data can leave the country, and leave Europe, if you use an approved European transfer route. Two industries differ: online gambling servers must sit inside the European Union, and cloud sold to Czech government at the top security grade must keep data in Europe. The privacy regulator works well, but is banned by law from fining government bodies.	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 relaxed headline stops being true in two places. If you run online gambling for Czech players, your game server must be physically inside an European Union country. If you sell cloud services to Czech public bodies and want the top security grade, customer data at rest must stay inside the European Union or the European Free Trade Association area, unless the national cyber agency has published a formal exemption for your service. Telecoms firms also face a six-month duty to keep records of who contacted whom, which Czechia's own Supreme Court said in January 2026 breaks European law but which nobody has repealed.	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. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation applies directly in Czechia, and it reaches a company anywhere in the world that offers goods or services to people in Czechia or watches what they do online. There is no minimum size or revenue. If you are outside Europe and caught by the rules, you must appoint a written representative inside Europe.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?	In general yes, with paperwork. Czechia adds no national storage rule on top of the European regime, so ordinary personal data can sit in a data centre outside Czechia and outside Europe if you use an approved transfer route. Two sectors break that pattern: online gambling and cloud sold to government at the top security grade. A third, telecoms, has a records-keeping duty that is legally contested.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?	Use one of the European routes. Send data to a country Europe has formally approved, or sign the European standard contract clauses, or set up binding corporate rules for your group. Czechia adds no national approval step and keeps no national list of banned countries. Before you send data somewhere without an approval decision, you are expected to check whether the destination's surveillance laws would undermine your safeguards.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?	Yes, the regulators here really work. The Office for Personal Data Protection has a president, Jiří Kaucký, reappointed for a second term by the country's President on 26 August 2025. In 2025 it received 3,854 complaints and notifications, opened 27 inspections and imposed 7 fines totalling about 14.7 million Czech koruna, roughly 700,000 US dollars. It publishes an inspection plan for the year ahead. The cyber agency is busier still. But the privacy office is forbidden by Czech law from fining any government body.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?	Both directions apply, and they collide. The ceiling comes from the European rule: delete personal data once the purpose is finished. The floors come from sector laws. Telecoms firms must keep records of who contacted whom for six months. Gambling operators must keep customer identification records for ten years and betting records for two. Accounting and tax records run for years and are being rewritten. Where a floor and the ceiling conflict, the floor wins, because keeping data to obey a law is itself a lawful reason to keep it.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?	Count three clocks. A personal data breach goes to the privacy office within 72 hours, and to affected people without undue delay if the risk to them is high. A cyber incident at an organisation registered under the Cybersecurity Act goes to the cyber agency within 24 hours if you are in the higher tier, or 72 hours in the lower tier, with a final report inside 30 days. Financial firms have a separate European clock of their own. Many companies are caught by two of these at once.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. (1) A Czech child can consent to online services at 15, not 16. (2) Mishandling personal data can be a crime, not just a fine. (3) The privacy office cannot fine a government body at all, so if a public authority leaks your data there is no fine to point at. (4) Telecoms firms must keep six months of contact records that Czechia's own Supreme Court said in January 2026 breaks European law, yet the duty still stands. (5) The Czech platform regulator exists but cannot inspect or fine anybody yet.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?	Four things to watch in the next twelve months. Telecoms retention is legally unstable after the Supreme Court's January 2026 ruling and something has to give. The Czech bill that would give the platform regulator real powers is still in parliament. A new law on state data sharing was signed on 28 April 2026 but its obligations only start in 2028 and 2029. And across Europe, cloud switching charges must fall to zero by 12 January 2027.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	Government — Vyhláška č. 316/2021 Sb., o některých požadavcích pro zápis do katalogu cloud computingu Online gaming — Zákon č. 186/2016 Sb., o hazardních hrách	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