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

Countries

JordanChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Jordan lets personal data leave the country, but only after the paperwork. You must judge that the people receiving it protect it as well as Jordanian law does, run a written risk assessment first, and appoint a data protection officer who is a Jordanian citizen. You must also join a government register. The regulator is real and busy, but has published no fines yet.
The catch: Two things break the easy story. Government bodies and their suppliers cannot send data marked Secret or Sensitive out of Jordan at all. And named companies in telecoms, energy, water, health and transport cannot choose their own data protection officer: the Personal Data Protection Council has to approve the person first, and for banks and payment firms the Central Bank of Jordan does the approving.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. The law follows the data, not the office. It covers anyone, anywhere, who holds data about people in Jordan, and it says so in the definition of a controller. There is no revenue or headcount floor to duck under, and a foreign company is expected to sign up on the government register just like a local one.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Data may go abroad if the organisation receiving it protects the data at least as well as Jordanian law requires, and the sender has to check that before sending. Some industries are stricter. Government bodies may not send data marked Secret or Sensitive out of the country at all, and any organisation that sends databases abroad must have a data protection officer who is a Jordanian citizen.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Before data leaves Jordan you need three things: a written risk assessment, a check that the receiving organisation protects the data properly, and a data protection officer. There is no approved-country list to rely on yet. The Council is required by law to publish one and has not done so, so for now the judgement call, and the blame if it is wrong, sits with you.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: Two bodies, and both are real. The Personal Data Protection Council sets the rules and takes the decisions; it is chaired by the Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and its members are named in public. Day to day work is done by the Personal Data Protection Directorate inside that ministry, which runs the register, takes complaints and runs training. We found no published fine or naming decision yet, so enforcement is waking up rather than active.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: The ceiling is strict: once you have finished the purpose you collected data for, you must delete it, unless another law tells you to keep it. Deleting means the backups and any copies your suppliers hold abroad, and your contract has to say so. Floors come from other laws, such as five years for medical records and separate rules for telephone and internet records.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There are two clocks and the shorter one is unusual. You have twenty-four hours to tell the people whose data was exposed, and seventy-two hours to tell the regulator. Most countries put the regulator first; Jordan puts the individual first. Your suppliers must tell you the moment they discover a problem.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things catch people out: the twenty-four hour clock to warn individuals, a rule that your data protection officer must be a Jordanian citizen, criminal fines that fall on people and not just companies, a register you must join within thirty days of starting to process, and government-issued consent forms you are expected to use.High confidence
What's about to change?: Nothing is scheduled with a date. The things to watch are powers the government already holds. The Council can publish its list of approved countries at any time, can add categories of data it treats as sensitive, and can add companies to the list that needs approved officers. The bigger switch is a licensing system written into the law but not yet switched on.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Government — سياسة الحوسبة السحابية (المنصات والخدمات) 2020 (Jordan Cloud (Platforms and Services) Policy 2020)

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	JordanChecked 18 August 2026	AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Waking up	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Waking up
In one paragraph	Jordan lets personal data leave the country, but only after the paperwork. You must judge that the people receiving it protect it as well as Jordanian law does, run a written risk assessment first, and appoint a data protection officer who is a Jordanian citizen. You must also join a government register. The regulator is real and busy, but has published no fines yet.	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	Two things break the easy story. Government bodies and their suppliers cannot send data marked Secret or Sensitive out of Jordan at all. And named companies in telecoms, energy, water, health and transport cannot choose their own data protection officer: the Personal Data Protection Council has to approve the person first, and for banks and payment firms the Central Bank of Jordan does the approving.	The national rule is already strict, and three areas are stricter still. Online shops must run their site on servers inside Algeria under a .com.dz address. Electronic trust services, such as digital signatures and electronic identity, must host all the data they collect inside Algeria. Public bodies must exchange data only over a state-run network that is deliberately kept separate from the internet. Banking, insurance and securities have no storage rule that we could find, but the central bank's own website could not be reached, so treat that as unchecked rather than settled.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. The law follows the data, not the office. It covers anyone, anywhere, who holds data about people in Jordan, and it says so in the definition of a controller. There is no revenue or headcount floor to duck under, and a foreign company is expected to sign up on the government register just like a local one.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. Data may go abroad if the organisation receiving it protects the data at least as well as Jordanian law requires, and the sender has to check that before sending. Some industries are stricter. Government bodies may not send data marked Secret or Sensitive out of the country at all, and any organisation that sends databases abroad must have a data protection officer who is a Jordanian citizen.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?	Before data leaves Jordan you need three things: a written risk assessment, a check that the receiving organisation protects the data properly, and a data protection officer. There is no approved-country list to rely on yet. The Council is required by law to publish one and has not done so, so for now the judgement call, and the blame if it is wrong, sits with you.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?	Two bodies, and both are real. The Personal Data Protection Council sets the rules and takes the decisions; it is chaired by the Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and its members are named in public. Day to day work is done by the Personal Data Protection Directorate inside that ministry, which runs the register, takes complaints and runs training. We found no published fine or naming decision yet, so enforcement is waking up rather than active.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?	The ceiling is strict: once you have finished the purpose you collected data for, you must delete it, unless another law tells you to keep it. Deleting means the backups and any copies your suppliers hold abroad, and your contract has to say so. Floors come from other laws, such as five years for medical records and separate rules for telephone and internet records.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?	There are two clocks and the shorter one is unusual. You have twenty-four hours to tell the people whose data was exposed, and seventy-two hours to tell the regulator. Most countries put the regulator first; Jordan puts the individual first. Your suppliers must tell you the moment they discover a problem.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 catch people out: the twenty-four hour clock to warn individuals, a rule that your data protection officer must be a Jordanian citizen, criminal fines that fall on people and not just companies, a register you must join within thirty days of starting to process, and government-issued consent forms you are expected to use.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?	Nothing is scheduled with a date. The things to watch are powers the government already holds. The Council can publish its list of approved countries at any time, can add categories of data it treats as sensitive, and can add companies to the list that needs approved officers. The bigger switch is a licensing system written into the law but not yet switched on.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 — سياسة الحوسبة السحابية (المنصات والخدمات) 2020 (Jordan Cloud (Platforms and Services) Policy 2020)	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