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

Countries

MongoliaChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Mongolia is not an open country for data. As a rule you may not send personal data abroad at all unless the person agrees or a law says you can. On top of that, a 2023 ministry order says that any server handling sensitive data must sit in Mongolia and must be reachable only from inside Mongolia. Sensitive data is defined very widely and includes health records and the content of messages.
The catch: Do not read 'depends on your industry' as 'open in general'. The baseline is already a ban with a consent exception. The hard walls are drawn by data type as much as by industry: health data, biometrics, genetic data, criminal records, digital signature keys and the content of letters, e-mail and messages all fall inside the server-in-Mongolia rule, whatever business you are in. Government bodies, state-owned and state-part-owned companies, and any company running a government service under a law or contract face a second wall over their databases.
Does this apply to me?: Probably not, if you have no presence in Mongolia at all. The privacy law says it governs how people, companies and unincorporated bodies collect, process and use personal data, but it does not say it reaches organisations outside the country. There is no revenue or size threshold, and there is no duty to appoint a local representative. In practice the rules bite through your Mongolian company, your Mongolian server, or your Mongolian licence rather than through long-arm reach.Medium confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Only sometimes, and for a lot of data the answer is a flat no. The general rule is that sending personal data to a person, company or international body abroad is banned unless a law or a treaty allows it, or the person the data is about has agreed. Then a separate ministry order takes health data, biometrics, genetic data, criminal records, digital signature keys and the content of letters, e-mail and messages out of reach entirely: the server has to be in Mongolia and has to be reachable only from Mongolia. Government systems and the country's foundational databases must also stay in Mongolia.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: There is no approval process, no standard contract and no list of approved countries. Mongolia works the other way round: the transfer is banned, and the only ways out are a law or treaty that allows it, or the written consent of the person concerned. Consent is not a light-touch tick box. You must name every recipient before you collect the data, you must be able to prove the consent, and the person can withdraw it at any time.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: Nobody owns privacy on its own. The law splits the job three ways: the National Human Rights Commission handles complaints and supervision, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Communications writes the technical rules and takes cyber incident reports, and other state bodies police their own sectors. The ministry is clearly working: it has issued binding orders and it keeps a live register of 49 licensed information security auditors. What we could not find is any published privacy fine or decision, so treat the privacy side as switched on but not yet biting.Medium confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Mongolia is unusual: the privacy law tells you when you may delete, not just when you must. You may only erase personal data on four listed grounds, and deleting it on any other ground is forbidden. Pulling the other way, payment businesses must keep their records for at least 15 years, anyone handling sensitive data must keep a history log of every change, deletion and restoration, and organisations running shared information systems must keep activity logs for a period fixed by government rules.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There are three clocks and none of them is measured in hours. The word the laws use is 'immediately', which they define as the shortest possible time. You tell the affected person immediately if the problem could harm them, you tell the ministry immediately if your system's security failed or you were attacked, and if you run critical national infrastructure you tell the national response centre immediately as well. Once a year, every January, you also send the human rights commission a register of the incidents you had and what you did about them.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things catch people out. First, fingerprint scanners at work are illegal for private employers: an employer may use other biometrics with the worker's consent, but never fingerprints, and may not pass that biometric data to anyone else. Second, 'sensitive data' includes the content of letters, e-mail and messages, which drags ordinary company mail systems towards the server-in-Mongolia rule. Third, financial and payment data is not classed as sensitive, but a fingerprint or face login for a banking app is, so banks land inside the strict rules by the back door. Fourth, breaking the privacy law can be a crime, not just a fine. Fifth, if you build data storage or a content delivery network inside Mongolia you need a telecoms licence.High confidence
What's about to change?: One big thing is in motion. The government decided on 13 May 2026 to build a legal framework for putting data into economic circulation and reuse, and to prepare for a green, energy-efficient data centre in Mongolia. The ministry is now consulting on a first Data Law. It is a draft, so nothing in it binds anyone yet. The bigger short-term risk is not new legislation at all: the minister can rewrite the server and storage rules by a simple order, without parliament and without consultation.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Health and social care — Хүний эмзэг мэдээлэл, генетик болон биометрик мэдээлэл боловсруулахад баримтлах технологийн аюулгүй байдлын шаардлага, журам
Government — Нийтийн мэдээллийн ил тод байдлын тухай хууль
Mapping and location — Нийтийн мэдээллийн ил тод байдлын тухай хууль, 27.3, 27.7 дугаар зүйл
All industries — Хүний хувийн мэдээлэл хамгаалах тухай хууль, 10, 31 дүгээр зүйл

TaiwanChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Taiwan lets personal data leave the country freely unless the ministry that regulates your industry has issued an order stopping it. There is no single privacy regulator: each industry ministry polices its own sector, and each has written its own security and breach-reporting rules. A big reform that would create one national regulator was passed in November 2025 but has never been switched on.
The catch: The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you touch health records, national health insurance data, banking or telecoms. Hospital data held in the cloud must physically sit in Taiwan. National health insurance records cannot be released to any organisation set up outside Taiwan at all. Banks need the financial regulator's permission before major consumer-finance systems go offshore, and must keep a backup of important customer data in Taiwan if they do.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Taiwan's privacy law reaches a foreign company with no office and no staff in Taiwan. The law says plainly that it also applies to organisations outside Taiwan that collect, process or use the personal data of Taiwanese people. There is no revenue or headcount threshold to fall below, and the law does not require you to appoint a local representative.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Taiwan's privacy law does not ask you to sign anything or get anyone's permission before sending personal data abroad. Instead it gives each industry ministry the power to order that data in its sector may not go to a particular country. But four sectors have real walls, and in two of them the wall is absolute.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Under the general law, nothing. No standard contract, no government approval, no adequacy finding, no consent form. The model is a blocklist run sector by sector: you may send data anywhere unless the ministry that supervises your industry has issued an order stopping it. Your real job is to find out which ministry supervises you and check whether it has issued one.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: There is no national privacy regulator in Taiwan today. A Personal Data Protection Commission is named in the law as the authority in charge, but that provision has never been switched on, the law creating the Commission is still only a bill, and what exists is a preparatory office that writes draft rules and cannot fine anyone. Enforcement is done instead by whichever ministry regulates your industry, plus city and county governments, and those bodies are genuinely active.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Both directions apply, and the floors are set by other laws, not the privacy law. Accounting vouchers must be kept at least five years and account books and financial statements at least ten years. Medical records must be kept at least seven years, and for children until seven years after they turn eighteen; records from human trials must be kept forever. Going the other way, you must delete personal data once the purpose you collected it for has gone or the period you set has run out.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count at least three clocks, and the fastest is one hour. Telecoms companies and larger internet providers must tell the communications regulator within one hour of learning about a major personal data incident, then file a full report within seventy-two hours. Government bodies and designated critical infrastructure operators also have one hour, under the separate cyber security law. Financial firms get seventy-two hours. And under the privacy law itself you must tell the affected people once you have established the facts, with no fixed deadline attached.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that will cost someone their weekend. First, the official English text of the privacy law on the government's own website includes provisions that are not law yet, including the one naming the national regulator. Second, breaking a cross-border transfer order is a crime, not a fine — up to five years in prison. Third, there is no single regulator to ask; your duties depend on which ministry supervises you. Fourth, a bank asked for Taiwanese customer data by a foreign financial regulator must get Taiwan's regulator's permission first. Fifth, if you are sued, you have to prove you were not at fault.High confidence
What's about to change?: One thing has already landed and one is waiting on a switch. The National Health Insurance Data Management Act came into force on 10 August 2026, and it gives people a short window to opt their health records out of research use before silence counts as agreement. Separately, the big privacy reform passed in November 2025 is sitting on the shelf: the Cabinet can bring it into force whenever it likes, by a single order, with no consultation.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Health and social care — 醫療機構電子病歷製作及管理辦法 (Regulations Governing the Production and Management of Electronic Medical Records by Medical Institutions)
Health and social care — 全民健康保險資料管理條例 (National Health Insurance Data Management Act)
Banking — 金融機構作業委託他人處理內部作業制度及程序辦法 (Regulations Governing Internal Operating Systems and Procedures for the Outsourcing of Financial Institution Operation)

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	MongoliaChecked 18 August 2026	TaiwanChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Waking up	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Mongolia is not an open country for data. As a rule you may not send personal data abroad at all unless the person agrees or a law says you can. On top of that, a 2023 ministry order says that any server handling sensitive data must sit in Mongolia and must be reachable only from inside Mongolia. Sensitive data is defined very widely and includes health records and the content of messages.	Taiwan lets personal data leave the country freely unless the ministry that regulates your industry has issued an order stopping it. There is no single privacy regulator: each industry ministry polices its own sector, and each has written its own security and breach-reporting rules. A big reform that would create one national regulator was passed in November 2025 but has never been switched on.
The catch	Do not read 'depends on your industry' as 'open in general'. The baseline is already a ban with a consent exception. The hard walls are drawn by data type as much as by industry: health data, biometrics, genetic data, criminal records, digital signature keys and the content of letters, e-mail and messages all fall inside the server-in-Mongolia rule, whatever business you are in. Government bodies, state-owned and state-part-owned companies, and any company running a government service under a law or contract face a second wall over their databases.	The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you touch health records, national health insurance data, banking or telecoms. Hospital data held in the cloud must physically sit in Taiwan. National health insurance records cannot be released to any organisation set up outside Taiwan at all. Banks need the financial regulator's permission before major consumer-finance systems go offshore, and must keep a backup of important customer data in Taiwan if they do.
Does this apply to me?	Probably not, if you have no presence in Mongolia at all. The privacy law says it governs how people, companies and unincorporated bodies collect, process and use personal data, but it does not say it reaches organisations outside the country. There is no revenue or size threshold, and there is no duty to appoint a local representative. In practice the rules bite through your Mongolian company, your Mongolian server, or your Mongolian licence rather than through long-arm reach.Medium confidence	Yes. Taiwan's privacy law reaches a foreign company with no office and no staff in Taiwan. The law says plainly that it also applies to organisations outside Taiwan that collect, process or use the personal data of Taiwanese people. There is no revenue or headcount threshold to fall below, and the law does not require you to appoint a local representative.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Only sometimes, and for a lot of data the answer is a flat no. The general rule is that sending personal data to a person, company or international body abroad is banned unless a law or a treaty allows it, or the person the data is about has agreed. Then a separate ministry order takes health data, biometrics, genetic data, criminal records, digital signature keys and the content of letters, e-mail and messages out of reach entirely: the server has to be in Mongolia and has to be reachable only from Mongolia. Government systems and the country's foundational databases must also stay in Mongolia.High confidence	In general, yes. Taiwan's privacy law does not ask you to sign anything or get anyone's permission before sending personal data abroad. Instead it gives each industry ministry the power to order that data in its sector may not go to a particular country. But four sectors have real walls, and in two of them the wall is absolute.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	There is no approval process, no standard contract and no list of approved countries. Mongolia works the other way round: the transfer is banned, and the only ways out are a law or treaty that allows it, or the written consent of the person concerned. Consent is not a light-touch tick box. You must name every recipient before you collect the data, you must be able to prove the consent, and the person can withdraw it at any time.High confidence	Under the general law, nothing. No standard contract, no government approval, no adequacy finding, no consent form. The model is a blocklist run sector by sector: you may send data anywhere unless the ministry that supervises your industry has issued an order stopping it. Your real job is to find out which ministry supervises you and check whether it has issued one.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	Nobody owns privacy on its own. The law splits the job three ways: the National Human Rights Commission handles complaints and supervision, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Communications writes the technical rules and takes cyber incident reports, and other state bodies police their own sectors. The ministry is clearly working: it has issued binding orders and it keeps a live register of 49 licensed information security auditors. What we could not find is any published privacy fine or decision, so treat the privacy side as switched on but not yet biting.Medium confidence	There is no national privacy regulator in Taiwan today. A Personal Data Protection Commission is named in the law as the authority in charge, but that provision has never been switched on, the law creating the Commission is still only a bill, and what exists is a preparatory office that writes draft rules and cannot fine anyone. Enforcement is done instead by whichever ministry regulates your industry, plus city and county governments, and those bodies are genuinely active.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	Mongolia is unusual: the privacy law tells you when you may delete, not just when you must. You may only erase personal data on four listed grounds, and deleting it on any other ground is forbidden. Pulling the other way, payment businesses must keep their records for at least 15 years, anyone handling sensitive data must keep a history log of every change, deletion and restoration, and organisations running shared information systems must keep activity logs for a period fixed by government rules.High confidence	Both directions apply, and the floors are set by other laws, not the privacy law. Accounting vouchers must be kept at least five years and account books and financial statements at least ten years. Medical records must be kept at least seven years, and for children until seven years after they turn eighteen; records from human trials must be kept forever. Going the other way, you must delete personal data once the purpose you collected it for has gone or the period you set has run out.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	There are three clocks and none of them is measured in hours. The word the laws use is 'immediately', which they define as the shortest possible time. You tell the affected person immediately if the problem could harm them, you tell the ministry immediately if your system's security failed or you were attacked, and if you run critical national infrastructure you tell the national response centre immediately as well. Once a year, every January, you also send the human rights commission a register of the incidents you had and what you did about them.High confidence	Count at least three clocks, and the fastest is one hour. Telecoms companies and larger internet providers must tell the communications regulator within one hour of learning about a major personal data incident, then file a full report within seventy-two hours. Government bodies and designated critical infrastructure operators also have one hour, under the separate cyber security law. Financial firms get seventy-two hours. And under the privacy law itself you must tell the affected people once you have established the facts, with no fixed deadline attached.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things catch people out. First, fingerprint scanners at work are illegal for private employers: an employer may use other biometrics with the worker's consent, but never fingerprints, and may not pass that biometric data to anyone else. Second, 'sensitive data' includes the content of letters, e-mail and messages, which drags ordinary company mail systems towards the server-in-Mongolia rule. Third, financial and payment data is not classed as sensitive, but a fingerprint or face login for a banking app is, so banks land inside the strict rules by the back door. Fourth, breaking the privacy law can be a crime, not just a fine. Fifth, if you build data storage or a content delivery network inside Mongolia you need a telecoms licence.High confidence	Five things that will cost someone their weekend. First, the official English text of the privacy law on the government's own website includes provisions that are not law yet, including the one naming the national regulator. Second, breaking a cross-border transfer order is a crime, not a fine — up to five years in prison. Third, there is no single regulator to ask; your duties depend on which ministry supervises you. Fourth, a bank asked for Taiwanese customer data by a foreign financial regulator must get Taiwan's regulator's permission first. Fifth, if you are sued, you have to prove you were not at fault.High confidence
What's about to change?	One big thing is in motion. The government decided on 13 May 2026 to build a legal framework for putting data into economic circulation and reuse, and to prepare for a green, energy-efficient data centre in Mongolia. The ministry is now consulting on a first Data Law. It is a draft, so nothing in it binds anyone yet. The bigger short-term risk is not new legislation at all: the minister can rewrite the server and storage rules by a simple order, without parliament and without consultation.Medium confidence	One thing has already landed and one is waiting on a switch. The National Health Insurance Data Management Act came into force on 10 August 2026, and it gives people a short window to opt their health records out of research use before silence counts as agreement. Separately, the big privacy reform passed in November 2025 is sitting on the shelf: the Cabinet can bring it into force whenever it likes, by a single order, with no consultation.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	Health and social care — Хүний эмзэг мэдээлэл, генетик болон биометрик мэдээлэл боловсруулахад баримтлах технологийн аюулгүй байдлын шаардлага, журам Government — Нийтийн мэдээллийн ил тод байдлын тухай хууль Mapping and location — Нийтийн мэдээллийн ил тод байдлын тухай хууль, 27.3, 27.7 дугаар зүйл All industries — Хүний хувийн мэдээлэл хамгаалах тухай хууль, 10, 31 дүгээр зүйл	Health and social care — 醫療機構電子病歷製作及管理辦法 (Regulations Governing the Production and Management of Electronic Medical Records by Medical Institutions) Health and social care — 全民健康保險資料管理條例 (National Health Insurance Data Management Act) Banking — 金融機構作業委託他人處理內部作業制度及程序辦法 (Regulations Governing Internal Operating Systems and Procedures for the Outsourcing of Financial Institution Operation)