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

Countries

ItalyChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Aggressive

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

GreeceChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: For most businesses Greece is a normal European country: personal data can leave, as long as you use one of the standard European transfer tools. But Greece has two hard walls that Europe does not. Phone and internet connection records must physically sit on machines inside Greece. Online gambling operators must keep their records on a server inside Greece too. The privacy regulator is fully staffed and fining companies today.
The catch: The relaxed European headline stops being true the moment you touch three things. Telecoms connection records must be stored on physical media inside Greek territory for twelve months. Online gambling records must sit on a server or safe inside Greece for ten years. And Greek public bodies must run their central systems on the Greek state's own clouds, not on a commercial cloud of their choosing. Outside those three, plus the health and public sectors, Greece imposes no storage-location rule of its own.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it reaches a foreign company with no office in Greece. The European privacy rules apply to anyone anywhere who offers goods or services to people in Greece, or who watches what they do online. The Greek national law adds that it also covers anyone processing data on Greek soil. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you off. If you have no establishment anywhere in Europe, you must appoint a written representative inside the European Union.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Greece adds no storage-location rule of its own to the European baseline, so ordinary business data can be sent abroad once you have the right European transfer paperwork. Three industries break that rule completely. Telecoms companies must keep their connection records on machines physically inside Greece. Online gambling operators must keep their records on a server inside Greece. And Greek government bodies must run their main systems on state-operated clouds. Health, banking and insurance have extra hoops but no location rule.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: You need one of the standard European transfer tools before data leaves Europe. The simplest is sending it to a country the European Commission has already approved. If the destination is not approved, you sign the European Commission's standard contract with the recipient, or use approved group-wide internal rules, and you write down why you think the data will still be safe there. Greece adds no extra permission, filing or fee of its own.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: Six bodies, and all six are genuinely working. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority is the main privacy regulator and is issuing numbered decisions and fines every month — its most recent published decisions run to July 2026 and include fines on a bank and an electricity supplier. A separate constitutional authority polices the secrecy of communications. There is also a national cybersecurity authority, a telecoms regulator, the central bank for finance and insurance, and a gambling regulator. This is not a paper regime.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions apply, and they collide. Business books must be kept five years. Medical files must be kept ten years in a private practice and twenty years everywhere else. Online gambling records must be kept ten years. Telecoms connection records must be kept exactly twelve months and then automatically deleted. In the other direction, the European rule says you must not keep personal data longer than you need it. When a specific keeping rule and the general deleting rule clash, the specific keeping rule wins.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count three clocks, not one. If personal data is lost or exposed, you have 72 hours to tell the privacy regulator. If you run important infrastructure, you have only 24 hours to send a first warning to the national cybersecurity authority, then 72 hours for a fuller report and one month for the final one. If you are a phone or internet provider, you have 24 hours to report a personal data breach and a separate duty to tell the communications secrecy authority. Missing the 24-hour clocks is the most common failure.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that will cost you a weekend. First, a child in Greece can consent to an online service at fifteen, not sixteen — so an age gate built to the European default is set wrong. Second, misusing personal data is a crime here, with prison time, not just a fine. Third, several articles of the Greek privacy law are printed in the statute but the regulator has formally said they must not be applied, because they clash with European law. Fourth, telecoms connection records must physically stay in Greece. Fifth, government bodies cannot simply pick a commercial cloud.High confidence
What's about to change?: Three dated changes. Electronic invoicing between businesses became compulsory for large Greek companies on 2 March 2026 and becomes compulsory for everyone else on 1 October 2026. Greece's new artificial intelligence law took effect on 22 July 2026 and forces public bodies to register every artificial intelligence system before switching it on. And from 12 January 2027 European law bans cloud providers from charging you to move your data out.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Telecoms — Νόμος 3917/2011 — Διατήρηση δεδομένων που παράγονται ή υποβάλλονται σε επεξεργασία σε συνάρτηση με την παροχή υπηρεσιών ηλεκτρονικών επικοινωνιών
Online gaming — Νόμος 4002/2011 — Ρύθμιση της αγοράς παιγνίων, άρθρο 47, και Κανονισμοί Παιγνίων (ΥΑ 79305/2020 και 79835/2020)
Government — Νόμος 4727/2020 — Ψηφιακή Διακυβέρνηση, άρθρο 87 (Κυβερνητικά νέφη)

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	ItalyChecked 18 August 2026	GreeceChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Aggressive	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Italy does not make ordinary business data stay in Italy. European rules decide when data may leave Europe, and Italy layers its own rules on top. But the moment you sell to the Italian state — a ministry, a town hall, a hospital, a school — the picture changes completely. The most sensitive government data has to sit on machines inside Italy, run from Italy.	For most businesses Greece is a normal European country: personal data can leave, as long as you use one of the standard European transfer tools. But Greece has two hard walls that Europe does not. Phone and internet connection records must physically sit on machines inside Greece. Online gambling operators must keep their records on a server inside Greece too. The privacy regulator is fully staffed and fining companies today.
The catch	"Italy has no data localisation" holds right up until your customer is a public body. Italian government data is sorted into ordinary, critical and strategic. Strategic data belongs on Italian soil under Italian operational control; critical data may not go on a public cloud outside Europe. On top of that, a cloud provider needs a licence from the national cyber agency before any public body is allowed to buy from it at all. Separately, telecoms companies must keep call and connection records for years, and the government can attach storage-location conditions to fifth-generation mobile and cloud contracts case by case.	The relaxed European headline stops being true the moment you touch three things. Telecoms connection records must be stored on physical media inside Greek territory for twelve months. Online gambling records must sit on a server or safe inside Greece for ten years. And Greek public bodies must run their central systems on the Greek state's own clouds, not on a commercial cloud of their choosing. Outside those three, plus the health and public sectors, Greece imposes no storage-location rule of its own.
Does this apply to me?	Yes, it reaches you with no office in Italy. European law applies to any organisation anywhere that offers goods or services to people in Italy, or that monitors what they do online. There is no size or revenue threshold to duck under. If you have no branch anywhere in Europe, you must appoint a written representative based in Europe, and people and regulators can go to that representative instead of chasing you abroad.High confidence	Yes, it reaches a foreign company with no office in Greece. The European privacy rules apply to anyone anywhere who offers goods or services to people in Greece, or who watches what they do online. The Greek national law adds that it also covers anyone processing data on Greek soil. There is no size or revenue threshold that lets you off. If you have no establishment anywhere in Europe, you must appoint a written representative inside the European Union.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	For a normal private company, yes — with paperwork, exactly as anywhere else in Europe. Italy has no general law saying personal data must be stored in Italy. The real walls are in one place: anything sold to or run by the Italian public sector. Government data is graded ordinary, critical or strategic, and the top two grades cannot sit on a public cloud outside Europe, with strategic data confined to infrastructure inside Italy and operated from Italy.High confidence	In general, yes. Greece adds no storage-location rule of its own to the European baseline, so ordinary business data can be sent abroad once you have the right European transfer paperwork. Three industries break that rule completely. Telecoms companies must keep their connection records on machines physically inside Greece. Online gambling operators must keep their records on a server inside Greece. And Greek government bodies must run their main systems on state-operated clouds. Health, banking and insurance have extra hoops but no location rule.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	Three routes, and they are European rather than Italian. Best case, the destination is on Europe's official approved list and you need nothing extra. Otherwise you sign Europe's standard contract with the recipient, or get group-wide internal rules approved by a regulator. With the last two you must also write down an assessment of whether the destination country's surveillance laws would undermine the protection. Italy adds no extra permission step, but it does add a criminal offence for getting it badly wrong.High confidence	You need one of the standard European transfer tools before data leaves Europe. The simplest is sending it to a country the European Commission has already approved. If the destination is not approved, you sign the European Commission's standard contract with the recipient, or use approved group-wide internal rules, and you write down why you think the data will still be safe there. Greece adds no extra permission, filing or fee of its own.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Italian data protection authority, known as the Garante, and it is one of the busiest and boldest regulators in Europe. In 2025 alone it took 807 decisions, of which 506 were corrective or punitive, ran 130 inspections and collected more than 37 million euros (about 41 million dollars) in fines. It was the first regulator in the world to order a temporary halt to a major chatbot service, and it has since blocked or restricted several artificial intelligence products. Cybersecurity is enforced by a separate agency.High confidence	Six bodies, and all six are genuinely working. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority is the main privacy regulator and is issuing numbered decisions and fines every month — its most recent published decisions run to July 2026 and include fines on a bank and an electricity supplier. A separate constitutional authority polices the secrecy of communications. There is also a national cybersecurity authority, a telecoms regulator, the central bank for finance and insurance, and a gambling regulator. This is not a paper regime.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	Both directions, and they pull hard against each other. The floors: telephone records must be kept 24 months, internet connection records 12 months, unanswered calls 30 days, and a separate six-year rule applies for terrorism and serious crime. Health records in the national system are erased 30 years after the patient dies. The ceiling is much tighter than people expect: the regulator says the technical logs behind staff email may normally be kept for no more than 21 days.High confidence	Both directions apply, and they collide. Business books must be kept five years. Medical files must be kept ten years in a private practice and twenty years everywhere else. Online gambling records must be kept ten years. Telecoms connection records must be kept exactly twelve months and then automatically deleted. In the other direction, the European rule says you must not keep personal data longer than you need it. When a specific keeping rule and the general deleting rule clash, the specific keeping rule wins.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	Count at least three clocks, and they run at the same time. A personal data breach goes to the Garante within 72 hours, and to the people affected without delay where the risk to them is high. If you are in scope of Italy's network security regime, a first warning goes to the national cyber agency within 24 hours, a fuller notification within 72 hours, and a final report within a month. Organisations inside the national cyber perimeter have a much shorter fuse, reported as six hours.Medium confidence	Count three clocks, not one. If personal data is lost or exposed, you have 72 hours to tell the privacy regulator. If you run important infrastructure, you have only 24 hours to send a first warning to the national cybersecurity authority, then 72 hours for a fuller report and one month for the final one. If you are a phone or internet provider, you have 24 hours to report a personal data breach and a separate duty to tell the communications secrecy authority. Missing the 24-hour clocks is the most common failure.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five. One: staff email logs may normally be kept only 21 days, and a regional government was punished in 2025 for keeping 90. Two: before you install any tool that could monitor employees, you need a union agreement or a labour inspectorate permit, and skipping it is a criminal matter, not a fine. Three: some data offences in Italy carry prison, not just penalties. Four: children can consent at 14 in Italy, not 16. Five: the widely reported rule forcing public-sector artificial intelligence onto Italian servers was deleted before the law passed, so citing it is wrong.High confidence	Five things that will cost you a weekend. First, a child in Greece can consent to an online service at fifteen, not sixteen — so an age gate built to the European default is set wrong. Second, misusing personal data is a crime here, with prison time, not just a fine. Third, several articles of the Greek privacy law are printed in the statute but the regulator has formally said they must not be applied, because they clash with European law. Fourth, telecoms connection records must physically stay in Greece. Fifth, government bodies cannot simply pick a commercial cloud.High confidence
What's about to change?	Two firm dates and one open wound. By 31 October 2026 organisations in Italy's network security regime must have their basic security measures in place and evidenced. From 12 January 2027 every cloud provider must charge nothing for switching away or pulling data out. The open wound is the Italian regulator itself: one of four board seats has been empty since January 2026 and Parliament has not filled it.Medium confidence	Three dated changes. Electronic invoicing between businesses became compulsory for large Greek companies on 2 March 2026 and becomes compulsory for everyone else on 1 October 2026. Greece's new artificial intelligence law took effect on 22 July 2026 and forces public bodies to register every artificial intelligence system before switching it on. And from 12 January 2027 European law bans cloud providers from charging you to move your data out.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	Government — Regolamento unico per le infrastrutture e i servizi cloud per la PA — Determinazione ACN n. 21007/24	Telecoms — Νόμος 3917/2011 — Διατήρηση δεδομένων που παράγονται ή υποβάλλονται σε επεξεργασία σε συνάρτηση με την παροχή υπηρεσιών ηλεκτρονικών επικοινωνιών Online gaming — Νόμος 4002/2011 — Ρύθμιση της αγοράς παιγνίων, άρθρο 47, και Κανονισμοί Παιγνίων (ΥΑ 79305/2020 και 79835/2020) Government — Νόμος 4727/2020 — Ψηφιακή Διακυβέρνηση, άρθρο 87 (Κυβερνητικά νέφη)