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

Countries

IndonesiaChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Indonesia's general privacy law lets data leave if the destination protects it about as well as Indonesia does, or you use strong safeguards, or the person agrees. Money and health are walled off. Banks, payment firms, insurers and non-bank lenders must run their systems on Indonesian soil unless the financial regulator says otherwise, and medical records must sit with a local storage provider.
The catch: The relaxed headline is true only until you touch banking, payments, insurance and other non-bank finance, electronic medical records, or public-sector systems. In those areas the servers themselves must be in Indonesia, and moving them out needs a written permission that the banking regulator may take three months to grant. The general privacy watchdog looks quiet; the financial regulators are not.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. The privacy law follows the data, not the office. It covers any organisation, inside or outside Indonesia, whose handling of personal data has legal effects in Indonesia or affects people in Indonesia. There is no size or revenue cut-off to fall below. An organisation with no presence in the country is expected to name a representative in Indonesia, and any online service used by Indonesians is also expected to register with the digital ministry, which can order internet providers to block services that do not.Medium confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general yes, with homework. You must be able to show the destination protects personal data at a level at least equal to Indonesia's, or put binding safeguards in place, or get the person's clear agreement. That general answer stops at the door of finance, health and government. Banks, payment providers, insurers and other non-bank financial firms must keep their systems in Indonesian data centres and back-up centres, and can only go offshore with written regulator permission. Electronic medical records must be stored with a provider that has storage facilities inside Indonesia.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract to sign. Under the general law you assess the destination yourself, write down why it is safe enough, and keep that evidence. In finance the model is completely different: you need a real permission from the regulator before the systems move, and the banking regulator allows itself up to three months to answer once your paperwork is complete.Medium confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: It depends which rule you break. The privacy law's own watchdog is the weak spot: the law says a supervisory body must be set up by the President, and we found no government source showing it is staffed and issuing decisions as of 18 August 2026. Day to day the digital ministry handles complaints, registration and blocking. The financial regulators are a different story — the Financial Services Authority and the central bank are plainly working, and the Authority issued new binding rules as recently as July 2026.Medium confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a floor and a ceiling and they collide. The hardest floor is health: a hospital or clinic must keep an electronic medical record for at least 25 years after the patient's last visit. Company and tax paperwork must also be kept for years. The ceiling comes from the privacy law, which says personal data must be erased once the purpose is finished, the retention period ends, or the person withdraws consent. Where they clash, the specific keeping rule wins, so a patient asking for deletion does not defeat the 25-year rule.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count at least three clocks, and the privacy one is not the fastest. Under the privacy law you have 72 hours to tell the affected people and the regulator about a personal data breach. If you are a bank, you must send the financial regulator a first alert within 24 hours of learning about a serious technology incident, and a full incident report within five working days. Other financial firms, such as insurers and lenders, have five working days. Miss the 24-hour one and the fact that you met the 72-hour one will not help you.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that ruin weekends. (1) In finance the wall is a permission, not a contract — moving systems abroad needs a regulator licence and the banking regulator gives itself up to three months to decide, so cloud migrations must be planned around that. (2) In health your cloud provider must have storage facilities in Indonesia, and the Ministry of Health can demand access to the whole medical record. (3) The 25-year medical record rule beats a patient's deletion request. (4) The privacy law carries prison sentences, not just fines, so directors are personally exposed. (5) A foreign company with no office still needs a named representative in Indonesia, and a consumer service that is not registered with the digital ministry can be blocked at the internet level.Medium confidence
What's about to change?: One dated change is certain: from 1 September 2026 trading in digital financial assets, including crypto, runs under the financial regulator's new rulebook, so anyone in that business should re-check where its servers and records must sit. Two things are still pending as far as we could verify: the detailed implementing regulation under the privacy law, and the presidential decision setting up the privacy watchdog itself. Both could land without warning.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Banking — Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 11/POJK.03/2022 tentang Penyelenggaraan Teknologi Informasi oleh Bank Umum
Payments — Peraturan Bank Indonesia Nomor 23/6/PBI/2021 tentang Penyedia Jasa Pembayaran
Insurance — Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 4/POJK.05/2021 tentang Penerapan Manajemen Risiko dalam Penggunaan Teknologi Informasi oleh Lembaga Jasa Keuangan Nonbank
Health and social care — Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan Nomor 24 Tahun 2022 tentang Rekam Medis
Government — Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 71 Tahun 2019 tentang Penyelenggaraan Sistem dan Transaksi Elektronik
Mapping and location — Undang-Undang Nomor 4 Tahun 2011 tentang Informasi Geospasial

ChinaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: Very highEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Data can leave China, but only through one of three official gates: a government security review, a government-written contract you file with the regulator, or a certificate from an approved body. Which gate you need depends on how many people's data you move, not on where you send it. Small exporters are exempt. Several industries are walled off entirely.
The catch: The 'paperwork, then it can go' answer is only true for ordinary companies. Payment firms, credit bureaus, hospitals, genetic labs, online map services, telecom and industrial operators, and anything the government labels critical national infrastructure must keep the data in China. In those areas a copy staying behind is not optional.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. China's privacy law reaches a company with no office and no staff in China if it offers goods or services to people in China, or analyses their behaviour. There is no revenue or headcount threshold that lets you out. If you are caught this way, you must set up a dedicated office in China or name a representative there, and give the regulator their details.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general yes, once you clear the right gate — but the gate is set by volume, not by destination. China has no list of banned or approved countries. Below 100,000 people a year you can usually send data abroad with no filing at all. Above that you need a contract filed with the regulator or a certificate; above a million people, or if you hold data the state calls 'important', you need a full government security review. Then come the industry walls, which override all of this.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Three routes, and you do not get to pick freely — your volume picks for you. Route one is a government security review, run by the national internet regulator through your provincial office; an approval lasts three years and only covers the exact purpose, scope and method you declared. Route two is China's own standard contract, which you sign with the overseas recipient and file with the provincial regulator along with a risk assessment. Route three is a certificate from an accredited body, which since 1 March 2026 has a national standard behind it. You also need each person's separate, specific consent before their data goes abroad.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Cyberspace Administration of China leads, and it is fully staffed and busy. It runs a nationwide enforcement campaign every year, tests apps itself and publishes the names of the ones that fail, and puts out batches of worked enforcement cases. Police, the industry ministry and the market regulator enforce alongside it, and finance, health, mapping and securities regulators run their own rules. Fines are usually modest and paired with an order to fix things; the eye-watering penalties in the statute are rarely used.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions apply, and they pull against each other. The floor: network logs must be kept for at least six months, and accounting records have their own long minimum periods set by a national schedule. The ceiling: personal data may only be kept for the shortest time needed for the purpose you collected it for, and must be deleted once that purpose is met, the service ends, or consent is withdrawn. Where a law sets a minimum, that minimum wins over the delete duty — you keep the record and stop using it for anything else.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Three clocks, and they overlap. If you run critical national infrastructure you have ONE HOUR to report a serious incident to your supervising department and the police. Everyone else has four hours to tell the provincial internet office. On top of that, a network data incident that could harm national security or the public interest must be reported within 24 hours. You must also tell affected people immediately, by phone, text, message, email or public notice.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that ruin weekends. (1) Sending data abroad needs each person's separate, specific consent — a line buried in a global privacy notice will not do. (2) A child is anyone under 14, and their data is treated as sensitive, so you need a parent's consent and a separate set of processing rules. (3) You may not hand data stored in China to a foreign court, police force or regulator without Chinese government approval — this catches routine legal discovery and overseas audit requests. (4) You have to work out for yourself whether you hold 'important data' and report it, because the official catalogues are incomplete. (5) The widely repeated claim that all personal financial data must be stored in China does not appear where people think it does.High confidence
What's about to change?: The next twelve months are about size-based rules. A draft published on 7 August 2026 would create a heavy new tier for any company holding data on ten million people or more: store it in China, appoint a chief privacy officer, set up an outside supervision committee, publish an annual report and honour data portability requests within 30 working days. Comments closed on 7 September 2026 and it is not law yet. A companion draft going the other way would simplify life for small processors. Watch the dormant switches — several can flip with no consultation at all.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: All industries — 中华人民共和国网络安全法（2025年修正）
Payments — 非银行支付机构监督管理条例
Finance — 征信业务管理办法
Banking — 中国人民银行业务领域数据安全管理办法
Securities — 关于加强境内企业境外发行证券和上市相关保密和档案管理工作的规定
Health and social care — 国家健康医疗大数据标准、安全和服务管理办法（试行）
Mapping and location — 地图管理条例
Telecoms — 工业和信息化领域数据安全管理办法（试行）

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	IndonesiaChecked 18 August 2026	ChinaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Waking up	Yes, with paperwork Work: Very high Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Indonesia's general privacy law lets data leave if the destination protects it about as well as Indonesia does, or you use strong safeguards, or the person agrees. Money and health are walled off. Banks, payment firms, insurers and non-bank lenders must run their systems on Indonesian soil unless the financial regulator says otherwise, and medical records must sit with a local storage provider.	Data can leave China, but only through one of three official gates: a government security review, a government-written contract you file with the regulator, or a certificate from an approved body. Which gate you need depends on how many people's data you move, not on where you send it. Small exporters are exempt. Several industries are walled off entirely.
The catch	The relaxed headline is true only until you touch banking, payments, insurance and other non-bank finance, electronic medical records, or public-sector systems. In those areas the servers themselves must be in Indonesia, and moving them out needs a written permission that the banking regulator may take three months to grant. The general privacy watchdog looks quiet; the financial regulators are not.	The 'paperwork, then it can go' answer is only true for ordinary companies. Payment firms, credit bureaus, hospitals, genetic labs, online map services, telecom and industrial operators, and anything the government labels critical national infrastructure must keep the data in China. In those areas a copy staying behind is not optional.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. The privacy law follows the data, not the office. It covers any organisation, inside or outside Indonesia, whose handling of personal data has legal effects in Indonesia or affects people in Indonesia. There is no size or revenue cut-off to fall below. An organisation with no presence in the country is expected to name a representative in Indonesia, and any online service used by Indonesians is also expected to register with the digital ministry, which can order internet providers to block services that do not.Medium confidence	Yes. China's privacy law reaches a company with no office and no staff in China if it offers goods or services to people in China, or analyses their behaviour. There is no revenue or headcount threshold that lets you out. If you are caught this way, you must set up a dedicated office in China or name a representative there, and give the regulator their details.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	In general yes, with homework. You must be able to show the destination protects personal data at a level at least equal to Indonesia's, or put binding safeguards in place, or get the person's clear agreement. That general answer stops at the door of finance, health and government. Banks, payment providers, insurers and other non-bank financial firms must keep their systems in Indonesian data centres and back-up centres, and can only go offshore with written regulator permission. Electronic medical records must be stored with a provider that has storage facilities inside Indonesia.High confidence	In general yes, once you clear the right gate — but the gate is set by volume, not by destination. China has no list of banned or approved countries. Below 100,000 people a year you can usually send data abroad with no filing at all. Above that you need a contract filed with the regulator or a certificate; above a million people, or if you hold data the state calls 'important', you need a full government security review. Then come the industry walls, which override all of this.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract to sign. Under the general law you assess the destination yourself, write down why it is safe enough, and keep that evidence. In finance the model is completely different: you need a real permission from the regulator before the systems move, and the banking regulator allows itself up to three months to answer once your paperwork is complete.Medium confidence	Three routes, and you do not get to pick freely — your volume picks for you. Route one is a government security review, run by the national internet regulator through your provincial office; an approval lasts three years and only covers the exact purpose, scope and method you declared. Route two is China's own standard contract, which you sign with the overseas recipient and file with the provincial regulator along with a risk assessment. Route three is a certificate from an accredited body, which since 1 March 2026 has a national standard behind it. You also need each person's separate, specific consent before their data goes abroad.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	It depends which rule you break. The privacy law's own watchdog is the weak spot: the law says a supervisory body must be set up by the President, and we found no government source showing it is staffed and issuing decisions as of 18 August 2026. Day to day the digital ministry handles complaints, registration and blocking. The financial regulators are a different story — the Financial Services Authority and the central bank are plainly working, and the Authority issued new binding rules as recently as July 2026.Medium confidence	The Cyberspace Administration of China leads, and it is fully staffed and busy. It runs a nationwide enforcement campaign every year, tests apps itself and publishes the names of the ones that fail, and puts out batches of worked enforcement cases. Police, the industry ministry and the market regulator enforce alongside it, and finance, health, mapping and securities regulators run their own rules. Fines are usually modest and paired with an order to fix things; the eye-watering penalties in the statute are rarely used.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	There is a floor and a ceiling and they collide. The hardest floor is health: a hospital or clinic must keep an electronic medical record for at least 25 years after the patient's last visit. Company and tax paperwork must also be kept for years. The ceiling comes from the privacy law, which says personal data must be erased once the purpose is finished, the retention period ends, or the person withdraws consent. Where they clash, the specific keeping rule wins, so a patient asking for deletion does not defeat the 25-year rule.High confidence	Both directions apply, and they pull against each other. The floor: network logs must be kept for at least six months, and accounting records have their own long minimum periods set by a national schedule. The ceiling: personal data may only be kept for the shortest time needed for the purpose you collected it for, and must be deleted once that purpose is met, the service ends, or consent is withdrawn. Where a law sets a minimum, that minimum wins over the delete duty — you keep the record and stop using it for anything else.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	Count at least three clocks, and the privacy one is not the fastest. Under the privacy law you have 72 hours to tell the affected people and the regulator about a personal data breach. If you are a bank, you must send the financial regulator a first alert within 24 hours of learning about a serious technology incident, and a full incident report within five working days. Other financial firms, such as insurers and lenders, have five working days. Miss the 24-hour one and the fact that you met the 72-hour one will not help you.High confidence	Three clocks, and they overlap. If you run critical national infrastructure you have ONE HOUR to report a serious incident to your supervising department and the police. Everyone else has four hours to tell the provincial internet office. On top of that, a network data incident that could harm national security or the public interest must be reported within 24 hours. You must also tell affected people immediately, by phone, text, message, email or public notice.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things that ruin weekends. (1) In finance the wall is a permission, not a contract — moving systems abroad needs a regulator licence and the banking regulator gives itself up to three months to decide, so cloud migrations must be planned around that. (2) In health your cloud provider must have storage facilities in Indonesia, and the Ministry of Health can demand access to the whole medical record. (3) The 25-year medical record rule beats a patient's deletion request. (4) The privacy law carries prison sentences, not just fines, so directors are personally exposed. (5) A foreign company with no office still needs a named representative in Indonesia, and a consumer service that is not registered with the digital ministry can be blocked at the internet level.Medium confidence	Five things that ruin weekends. (1) Sending data abroad needs each person's separate, specific consent — a line buried in a global privacy notice will not do. (2) A child is anyone under 14, and their data is treated as sensitive, so you need a parent's consent and a separate set of processing rules. (3) You may not hand data stored in China to a foreign court, police force or regulator without Chinese government approval — this catches routine legal discovery and overseas audit requests. (4) You have to work out for yourself whether you hold 'important data' and report it, because the official catalogues are incomplete. (5) The widely repeated claim that all personal financial data must be stored in China does not appear where people think it does.High confidence
What's about to change?	One dated change is certain: from 1 September 2026 trading in digital financial assets, including crypto, runs under the financial regulator's new rulebook, so anyone in that business should re-check where its servers and records must sit. Two things are still pending as far as we could verify: the detailed implementing regulation under the privacy law, and the presidential decision setting up the privacy watchdog itself. Both could land without warning.Medium confidence	The next twelve months are about size-based rules. A draft published on 7 August 2026 would create a heavy new tier for any company holding data on ten million people or more: store it in China, appoint a chief privacy officer, set up an outside supervision committee, publish an annual report and honour data portability requests within 30 working days. Comments closed on 7 September 2026 and it is not law yet. A companion draft going the other way would simplify life for small processors. Watch the dormant switches — several can flip with no consultation at all.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	Banking — Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 11/POJK.03/2022 tentang Penyelenggaraan Teknologi Informasi oleh Bank Umum Payments — Peraturan Bank Indonesia Nomor 23/6/PBI/2021 tentang Penyedia Jasa Pembayaran Insurance — Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 4/POJK.05/2021 tentang Penerapan Manajemen Risiko dalam Penggunaan Teknologi Informasi oleh Lembaga Jasa Keuangan Nonbank Health and social care — Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan Nomor 24 Tahun 2022 tentang Rekam Medis Government — Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 71 Tahun 2019 tentang Penyelenggaraan Sistem dan Transaksi Elektronik Mapping and location — Undang-Undang Nomor 4 Tahun 2011 tentang Informasi Geospasial	All industries — 中华人民共和国网络安全法（2025年修正） Payments — 非银行支付机构监督管理条例 Finance — 征信业务管理办法 Banking — 中国人民银行业务领域数据安全管理办法 Securities — 关于加强境内企业境外发行证券和上市相关保密和档案管理工作的规定 Health and social care — 国家健康医疗大数据标准、安全和服务管理办法（试行） Mapping and location — 地图管理条例 Telecoms — 工业和信息化领域数据安全管理办法（试行）