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

Countries

IsraelChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Israeli data can go abroad, but never by default. Either the destination country protects data as well as Israel does, or you fit one of eight listed exceptions — usually a contract in which the receiver promises to follow Israeli rules. A big reform started on 14 August 2025 and the regulator now issues real fines. No industry bans exports outright, but several add heavy conditions.
The catch: The general answer is 'yes, with paperwork'. It stops being true in four places. Banks may not put sensitive customer data on a cloud outside Israel unless they have checked the provider meets European-level protection. Insurers and pension bodies must report every offshore outsourcing arrangement to their regulator each year. Identifiable patient data used for research must generally stay inside the hospital or health fund that holds it, not merely inside Israel. And central government has moved its own cloud into Israeli data-centre regions on purpose, so selling cloud to the state effectively requires an Israeli region.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it can reach a foreign company with no office in Israel — but the law never says so in words. Israeli privacy law simply applies to anyone who collects, uses or processes personal data, with no size or revenue threshold to fall under. There is no general requirement to appoint a local representative. Some organisations must appoint a privacy officer, and that person is allowed to be an outside contractor rather than a staff member.Medium confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork — and you must be able to name the route you are using. The default rule is that data may only go to a country whose law protects it at least as well as Israeli law does. If the destination fails that test, you have to fit one of eight listed exceptions, and whichever route you take you also need a written promise from the receiver. No Israeli industry has a flat 'the data stays here' rule, but four sectors bolt extra conditions on top.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is closest to an allowlist: you may not send data out unless the destination qualifies, and the qualifying list is already populated. It counts if the country signed the Council of Europe data protection convention, or if it receives data from European Union countries on the same terms — so Europe's approved-country list does much of the work. If your destination does not qualify, the usual fallback is a contract in which the receiver promises to meet Israeli standards. Either way you also need a separate written promise from the receiver that it will protect the data and pass it to nobody else.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Privacy Protection Authority, part of the Ministry of Justice, and it is fully operational. It has a serving commissioner, an administrative enforcement department, and it publishes its decisions with names and amounts. In 2026 it fined a national health fund about 256,000 shekels (roughly $72,000) for taking two months to report a security incident, and a small leisure company about 12,000 shekels (roughly $3,400) for a defective privacy notice. Industry regulators — the Bank of Israel, the insurance regulator and the Ministry of Health — enforce their own rules separately.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a clear floor and a clear ceiling, and they sit close together. The floor: security and access-monitoring records must be kept for at least 24 months, and organisations with medium or high security databases must keep a restorable backup of them. The ceiling: if a database contains anything that came from Europe, you must run a mechanism that finds data you no longer need and delete it, and you must delete data on request. Where another law says you must keep something, that wins over the duty to delete.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There is one main clock and it has no hours attached to it: a severe security incident must be reported to the Privacy Protection Authority immediately, along with what you did about it. 'Immediately' is taken literally — a health fund was fined for a two-month delay. Telling the affected people is not automatic; the Authority decides, after consulting the national cyber agency, and can order you to notify them. Israel has no general law forcing every company to report cyber incidents to the state, so your second clock, if you have one, comes from your industry regulator.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that are not in the summary. One: a single record that arrived from Europe drags the whole database into the stricter European rules — since 1 January 2025 those rules apply to any other data sitting in the same database. Two: 'immediately' really means immediately, and there is no safe 72-hour habit to fall back on. Three: fines are calculated per person, not as a flat cap, so a large database turns a small breach into a very large bill. Four: privacy breaches are criminal offences, not just regulatory ones, with prison terms attached. Five: 'data security officer' and 'data protection officer' are two different Israeli roles with different triggers, and having one does not satisfy the other.High confidence
What's about to change?: The big change already happened on 14 August 2025. What is landing now is the detail underneath it. In April 2026 the regulator finalised its binding rules on the contract you must sign before sending data abroad, and separate regulations came into force giving a short grace period — a warning instead of a fine — for brand-new obligations. A guideline applying privacy law to artificial intelligence, including a requirement of consent before scraping the web to train models, is also in play. Watch three switches the government can flip without warning.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Health and social care — חוזרי מנכ"ל משרד הבריאות 1/2018 ו-2/2018 - שימושים משניים במידע בריאות
Government — פרויקט נימבוס - מדיניות הענן הממשלתית

AustriaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Austria does not require personal data to be kept in Austria, and we found no Austrian industry that does. Data can leave once the right paperwork is in place under European rules. What Austria adds is a secrecy layer: a constitutional right to data secrecy, a staff secrecy duty, an extra fine of up to 50,000 euros (about $58,000), and a prison offence of up to one year.
The catch: "No local storage needed" is true. "Nothing extra to do" is not. Austria's real cost sits in the secrecy layer, not in a map. A standard supplier data agreement does not satisfy Austrian data secrecy on its own, a child can consent at fourteen rather than sixteen, and misusing data you learned at work is a criminal matter in Austria, not just a fine. Health data also moves only inside a closed, encrypted Austrian health network, which in practice narrows your supplier list even though no law names a country.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. A company with no office in Austria is still caught if it offers goods or services to people in Austria, or watches what they do online. There is no size or revenue floor to duck under. If you have no establishment anywhere in the European Union, you must name a representative inside the Union in writing. Austria does not add a second, Austria-only representative on top of that.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with paperwork. We looked for an Austrian rule forcing data to stay in Austria and found none — not in banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, telecoms, government or mapping. Austrian health data is the closest thing to a wall, but it is a technical wall, not a geographic one: findings move only inside a closed, encrypted Austrian health network between registered care providers. Checked on 18 August 2026.Medium confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is an approved-destination list. Sending data outside Europe is fine if the destination is on the European Commission's approved list. If it is not, you sign the European standard contract, or use approved group-wide rules, and you write down a short risk assessment first. You do not need permission from the Austrian regulator. Its own words: apart from a few special cases, international data traffic needs no approval.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Austrian Data Protection Authority, and it is genuinely working. It has had a permanent head, Matthias Schmidl, since 1 January 2024, a deputy, and five departments. It issues decisions, and on 24 June 2026 Austria's highest administrative court confirmed a 13 million euro fine (about $15 million) for building political-opinion profiles on around 2.2 million people. The court held the fine is measured against the whole group's turnover, not one product line.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a ceiling and a floor, and they pull against each other. The ceiling is European: keep personal data no longer than you need it, then delete it. The floor is Austrian tax and company law, which makes you keep books, invoices and business records for years after the year they relate to. Where the two clash, the keeping duty wins for as long as it runs, and the data must then be deleted.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count at least two clocks, sometimes four. For a personal data breach you tell the Austrian Data Protection Authority without delay and if possible within 72 hours, and if you are late you must explain in writing why. If you run an essential service you also report significant incidents to Austria's network security authority. Banks and insurers report separately under European financial rules, and telecom operators have their own duty.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five that cost people their weekend. A child can consent at fourteen in Austria, not sixteen. Misusing data you only learned about through your job is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison. There is a second, separate Austrian fine of up to 50,000 euros (about $58,000) for breaking data secrecy or running a camera unlawfully. Austrian public bodies cannot be fined at all, but you still can. And the law tells the regulator to warn first, which is not the same as forgiveness.High confidence
What's about to change?: Three things to watch. Austria's Constitutional Court is deciding whether the state may plant software on a phone to read messages; it heard the case on 22 June 2026 and has not ruled. Austria has still not written the new European cybersecurity rules into national law, so that expansion is still ahead of you. And from 12 January 2027, cloud providers across Europe may no longer charge you to move your data out.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: None found.

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	IsraelChecked 18 August 2026	AustriaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Active	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Israeli data can go abroad, but never by default. Either the destination country protects data as well as Israel does, or you fit one of eight listed exceptions — usually a contract in which the receiver promises to follow Israeli rules. A big reform started on 14 August 2025 and the regulator now issues real fines. No industry bans exports outright, but several add heavy conditions.	Austria does not require personal data to be kept in Austria, and we found no Austrian industry that does. Data can leave once the right paperwork is in place under European rules. What Austria adds is a secrecy layer: a constitutional right to data secrecy, a staff secrecy duty, an extra fine of up to 50,000 euros (about $58,000), and a prison offence of up to one year.
The catch	The general answer is 'yes, with paperwork'. It stops being true in four places. Banks may not put sensitive customer data on a cloud outside Israel unless they have checked the provider meets European-level protection. Insurers and pension bodies must report every offshore outsourcing arrangement to their regulator each year. Identifiable patient data used for research must generally stay inside the hospital or health fund that holds it, not merely inside Israel. And central government has moved its own cloud into Israeli data-centre regions on purpose, so selling cloud to the state effectively requires an Israeli region.	"No local storage needed" is true. "Nothing extra to do" is not. Austria's real cost sits in the secrecy layer, not in a map. A standard supplier data agreement does not satisfy Austrian data secrecy on its own, a child can consent at fourteen rather than sixteen, and misusing data you learned at work is a criminal matter in Austria, not just a fine. Health data also moves only inside a closed, encrypted Austrian health network, which in practice narrows your supplier list even though no law names a country.
Does this apply to me?	Yes, it can reach a foreign company with no office in Israel — but the law never says so in words. Israeli privacy law simply applies to anyone who collects, uses or processes personal data, with no size or revenue threshold to fall under. There is no general requirement to appoint a local representative. Some organisations must appoint a privacy officer, and that person is allowed to be an outside contractor rather than a staff member.Medium confidence	Yes. A company with no office in Austria is still caught if it offers goods or services to people in Austria, or watches what they do online. There is no size or revenue floor to duck under. If you have no establishment anywhere in the European Union, you must name a representative inside the Union in writing. Austria does not add a second, Austria-only representative on top of that.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Yes, with paperwork — and you must be able to name the route you are using. The default rule is that data may only go to a country whose law protects it at least as well as Israeli law does. If the destination fails that test, you have to fit one of eight listed exceptions, and whichever route you take you also need a written promise from the receiver. No Israeli industry has a flat 'the data stays here' rule, but four sectors bolt extra conditions on top.High confidence	Yes, with paperwork. We looked for an Austrian rule forcing data to stay in Austria and found none — not in banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, telecoms, government or mapping. Austrian health data is the closest thing to a wall, but it is a technical wall, not a geographic one: findings move only inside a closed, encrypted Austrian health network between registered care providers. Checked on 18 August 2026.Medium confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	The model is closest to an allowlist: you may not send data out unless the destination qualifies, and the qualifying list is already populated. It counts if the country signed the Council of Europe data protection convention, or if it receives data from European Union countries on the same terms — so Europe's approved-country list does much of the work. If your destination does not qualify, the usual fallback is a contract in which the receiver promises to meet Israeli standards. Either way you also need a separate written promise from the receiver that it will protect the data and pass it to nobody else.High confidence	The model is an approved-destination list. Sending data outside Europe is fine if the destination is on the European Commission's approved list. If it is not, you sign the European standard contract, or use approved group-wide rules, and you write down a short risk assessment first. You do not need permission from the Austrian regulator. Its own words: apart from a few special cases, international data traffic needs no approval.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Privacy Protection Authority, part of the Ministry of Justice, and it is fully operational. It has a serving commissioner, an administrative enforcement department, and it publishes its decisions with names and amounts. In 2026 it fined a national health fund about 256,000 shekels (roughly $72,000) for taking two months to report a security incident, and a small leisure company about 12,000 shekels (roughly $3,400) for a defective privacy notice. Industry regulators — the Bank of Israel, the insurance regulator and the Ministry of Health — enforce their own rules separately.High confidence	The Austrian Data Protection Authority, and it is genuinely working. It has had a permanent head, Matthias Schmidl, since 1 January 2024, a deputy, and five departments. It issues decisions, and on 24 June 2026 Austria's highest administrative court confirmed a 13 million euro fine (about $15 million) for building political-opinion profiles on around 2.2 million people. The court held the fine is measured against the whole group's turnover, not one product line.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	There is a clear floor and a clear ceiling, and they sit close together. The floor: security and access-monitoring records must be kept for at least 24 months, and organisations with medium or high security databases must keep a restorable backup of them. The ceiling: if a database contains anything that came from Europe, you must run a mechanism that finds data you no longer need and delete it, and you must delete data on request. Where another law says you must keep something, that wins over the duty to delete.High confidence	There is a ceiling and a floor, and they pull against each other. The ceiling is European: keep personal data no longer than you need it, then delete it. The floor is Austrian tax and company law, which makes you keep books, invoices and business records for years after the year they relate to. Where the two clash, the keeping duty wins for as long as it runs, and the data must then be deleted.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	There is one main clock and it has no hours attached to it: a severe security incident must be reported to the Privacy Protection Authority immediately, along with what you did about it. 'Immediately' is taken literally — a health fund was fined for a two-month delay. Telling the affected people is not automatic; the Authority decides, after consulting the national cyber agency, and can order you to notify them. Israel has no general law forcing every company to report cyber incidents to the state, so your second clock, if you have one, comes from your industry regulator.High confidence	Count at least two clocks, sometimes four. For a personal data breach you tell the Austrian Data Protection Authority without delay and if possible within 72 hours, and if you are late you must explain in writing why. If you run an essential service you also report significant incidents to Austria's network security authority. Banks and insurers report separately under European financial rules, and telecom operators have their own duty.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things that are not in the summary. One: a single record that arrived from Europe drags the whole database into the stricter European rules — since 1 January 2025 those rules apply to any other data sitting in the same database. Two: 'immediately' really means immediately, and there is no safe 72-hour habit to fall back on. Three: fines are calculated per person, not as a flat cap, so a large database turns a small breach into a very large bill. Four: privacy breaches are criminal offences, not just regulatory ones, with prison terms attached. Five: 'data security officer' and 'data protection officer' are two different Israeli roles with different triggers, and having one does not satisfy the other.High confidence	Five that cost people their weekend. A child can consent at fourteen in Austria, not sixteen. Misusing data you only learned about through your job is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison. There is a second, separate Austrian fine of up to 50,000 euros (about $58,000) for breaking data secrecy or running a camera unlawfully. Austrian public bodies cannot be fined at all, but you still can. And the law tells the regulator to warn first, which is not the same as forgiveness.High confidence
What's about to change?	The big change already happened on 14 August 2025. What is landing now is the detail underneath it. In April 2026 the regulator finalised its binding rules on the contract you must sign before sending data abroad, and separate regulations came into force giving a short grace period — a warning instead of a fine — for brand-new obligations. A guideline applying privacy law to artificial intelligence, including a requirement of consent before scraping the web to train models, is also in play. Watch three switches the government can flip without warning.Medium confidence	Three things to watch. Austria's Constitutional Court is deciding whether the state may plant software on a phone to read messages; it heard the case on 22 June 2026 and has not ruled. Austria has still not written the new European cybersecurity rules into national law, so that expansion is still ahead of you. And from 12 January 2027, cloud providers across Europe may no longer charge you to move your data out.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	Health and social care — חוזרי מנכ"ל משרד הבריאות 1/2018 ו-2/2018 - שימושים משניים במידע בריאות Government — פרויקט נימבוס - מדיניות הענן הממשלתית	None found.