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MaltaChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: MediumEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Malta runs on the European rulebook. Data may go abroad once the right paperwork is in place, and there is no general rule that it must stay on the island. Two things break that. Online gaming companies must keep their core systems inside Europe. And any Maltese company that keeps its books abroad must still keep a copy of its accounts in Malta.
The catch: The easy answer stops being true in three places. First, online gaming, which is Malta's biggest regulated industry: a licensed operator's 'key technical setup' — including the player database, the financial database and the control system — must sit in Malta or another European Economic Area country, unless the Malta Gaming Authority approves another location one case at a time. The same operator must also run a live mirror of its essential regulatory data that the Authority can reach at any moment, including physically. Second, company law: if a company keeps its accounting records outside Malta, it must still send to Malta, and keep in Malta, accounts and returns good enough to show the financial position at least every six months. Third, government: the public administration's own cloud policy says cloud services should as a rule be inside the European Union or European Economic Area, and anything classified must go on the government's own cloud. Banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, education and mapping have no storage-location rule that we could find, checked 18 August 2026.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Malta's Data Protection Act reaches a company with no office in Malta if it offers goods or services to people in Malta, or watches their behaviour in Malta. There is no size or revenue threshold. There is no extra Maltese representative to appoint beyond the one the European rules already require of companies based outside Europe.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Malta has no law saying personal data must be stored on the island. It follows the European Union rules: send data outside Europe once you have an approved destination or the right contract. Three areas override that. Online gaming is the big one, and it is Malta's flagship industry.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Use the European toolkit. Send data to a country the European Commission has approved, or sign the European standard contract, or use approved group-wide rules. Malta adds nothing on top. Malta's own minister has a power to restrict transfers of named categories of data, but has never used it, so the list of Maltese restrictions is empty today.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Information and Data Protection Commissioner. It is real, staffed and issuing decisions: its public register shows around nineteen decisions published in 2026 and thirty-eight in 2025. The fines are small by European standards — most sit between about 2,000 and 20,000 euros (roughly $2,300 to $23,000). The gaming regulator is the harder one, and it cancels licences.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a floor and a ceiling. The floor: company accounting records for ten years, tax and value-added-tax records for at least six years, and anti-money-laundering records for five years. The ceiling: the European rule that you delete personal data once you no longer need it. Where they clash, the specific Maltese law that orders you to keep something wins, because keeping it is then a legal duty.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count three clocks, and they do not line up. Seventy-two hours to tell the privacy regulator about a personal data breach. Twenty-four hours to send a first warning about a serious cyber incident, then seventy-two hours for the full report and one month for the final one. Phone and internet companies have their own separate duty to report straight away.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that are not in the summary. A child in Malta is thirteen, not sixteen. Health and biometric research needs the regulator's written permission before you start, not just a risk assessment. Copying someone's identity card is restricted. Leaking a client secret can be a crime, not a fine. And the gaming regulator can keep personal data forever, in a law that says so out loud.High confidence
What's about to change?: Three dated changes. On 1 January 2027 a new law stops insurers, banks and employers asking about a cancer diagnosis once enough time has passed since treatment. On 12 January 2027 European rules make cloud switching and data export fees free. And Malta's artificial intelligence rules started phasing in on 2 August 2026, with the privacy regulator now policing the market.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: All industries — Att dwar il-Kumpaniji (Kap. 386), artikolu 163

SwitzerlandChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: MediumEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Switzerland is easy to send data out of, as long as the destination is one the government trusts. An official list names about 44 approved places, including every European Union country and United States firms in one certification scheme. Anywhere else, you sign an approved contract first. The sting is elsewhere: getting it wrong is a crime, and the case lands on a person, not the company.
The catch: The relaxed headline stops the moment you touch three areas. Electronic patient record data must physically sit in Switzerland. Banking client data is protected by a criminal secrecy law with a three-year prison ceiling. Doctors, lawyers, notaries, pharmacists, psychologists and nurses are under a near-identical criminal secrecy rule, and a normal supplier contract does not cure it. Financial market infrastructures also need the regulator's permission before outsourcing anything important.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Swiss privacy law reaches any organisation whose activities have an effect in Switzerland, even one with no office, staff or company here. There is no revenue or headcount threshold to duck under, and there is no register to sign up to. You only need a named representative inside Switzerland if four things are true at once: you are selling to people here or watching what they do, you are doing it on a large scale, you are doing it regularly, and the processing is high risk for the people involved. Very few foreign companies meet all four.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Switzerland publishes an official list of countries and territories it considers safe, and data can move to any of them with no extra paperwork. The list has about 44 entries. It covers all 27 European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Canada, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay and New Zealand. It covers the United States only for companies signed up to one specific certification scheme. Japan is not on it, even though the European Union treats Japan as safe. For anywhere not on the list, you sign an approved contract first. But three industries override this completely, and one of them is an outright ban.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is an approved-destinations list, and it is well populated: about 44 countries, territories and one sector-specific entry are on it right now. Send data to a listed place and you need nothing at all. Send it anywhere else and you need one of a short menu of safeguards, the most common being a standard contract. Switzerland has formally accepted the European Union's standard contract template, so most companies can reuse the paperwork they already have.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The main regulator is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. It is real, fully staffed and busy: in the year to 31 March 2026 it ran 156 low-level interventions, 22 preliminary enquiries and 9 formal investigations, and it had 2 cases running in the Federal Administrative Court. It has issued binding orders against a bank, a debt collection firm and a fashion group, and in October 2025 the court confirmed its new way of working. The catch is that this regulator cannot fine anyone. Fines under the privacy law are criminal, they are handed out by cantonal prosecutors, and they land on individual people.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: business books, accounting records and audit reports must be kept for ten years. Financial market infrastructures keep their records ten years, trade repositories keep trade data ten years after the contract matures, electronic patient record access logs are kept ten years, and telecoms companies keep connection records for six months. The ceiling: the privacy law says personal data must be destroyed or made anonymous as soon as it is no longer needed. There is no fixed number. Where the two clash, the specific legal duty to keep wins.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: Count four clocks, not one. The privacy regulator must be told 'as quickly as possible' when a breach is likely to put people at serious risk, with no number of hours attached. If you run critical infrastructure, you have a hard 24 hours to tell the national cyber security office. If you are supervised by the financial regulator, you have 24 hours to notify your supervisor and 72 hours to file the full report. Electronic patient record communities have to report security incidents to the health office. Most failures come from teams who set a single deadline and miss the others.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that are not in the summary. One: the penalty is a criminal fine on a named human being, not an administrative fine on the company, so your compliance lead is personally exposed. Two: sending data abroad without a valid safeguard is itself a crime. Three: banking secrecy and medical or legal secrecy are criminal laws with prison ceilings, and a standard supplier contract does not fix them. Four: cantonal authorities and cantonal hospitals are outside the federal law entirely. Five: the 24-hour cyber report has no penalty for being late, which misleads people into thinking it is optional.High confidence
What's about to change?: Nothing in the next twelve months changes where Swiss data may be stored. The electronic identity law has passed but is not switched on yet, and the financial regulator is holding a rule change until it is. A company transparency law hits banks on 1 October 2026. A rewrite of the telecoms surveillance rules has been announced for years and still has not landed. The bigger risk is not new legislation at all: the government can rewrite the approved-destinations list by itself, overnight, with no vote and no consultation.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Health and social care — Verordnung ueber das elektronische Patientendossier (EPDV)
Finance — FINMA-Rundschreiben 2018/3 'Outsourcing - Banken, Versicherungsunternehmen und ausgewaehlte Finanzinstitute nach FINIG'

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	MaltaChecked 18 August 2026	SwitzerlandChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: Medium Enforcement: Active	Depends on your industry Work: Medium Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Malta runs on the European rulebook. Data may go abroad once the right paperwork is in place, and there is no general rule that it must stay on the island. Two things break that. Online gaming companies must keep their core systems inside Europe. And any Maltese company that keeps its books abroad must still keep a copy of its accounts in Malta.	Switzerland is easy to send data out of, as long as the destination is one the government trusts. An official list names about 44 approved places, including every European Union country and United States firms in one certification scheme. Anywhere else, you sign an approved contract first. The sting is elsewhere: getting it wrong is a crime, and the case lands on a person, not the company.
The catch	The easy answer stops being true in three places. First, online gaming, which is Malta's biggest regulated industry: a licensed operator's 'key technical setup' — including the player database, the financial database and the control system — must sit in Malta or another European Economic Area country, unless the Malta Gaming Authority approves another location one case at a time. The same operator must also run a live mirror of its essential regulatory data that the Authority can reach at any moment, including physically. Second, company law: if a company keeps its accounting records outside Malta, it must still send to Malta, and keep in Malta, accounts and returns good enough to show the financial position at least every six months. Third, government: the public administration's own cloud policy says cloud services should as a rule be inside the European Union or European Economic Area, and anything classified must go on the government's own cloud. Banking, payments, insurance, securities, health, education and mapping have no storage-location rule that we could find, checked 18 August 2026.	The relaxed headline stops the moment you touch three areas. Electronic patient record data must physically sit in Switzerland. Banking client data is protected by a criminal secrecy law with a three-year prison ceiling. Doctors, lawyers, notaries, pharmacists, psychologists and nurses are under a near-identical criminal secrecy rule, and a normal supplier contract does not cure it. Financial market infrastructures also need the regulator's permission before outsourcing anything important.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. Malta's Data Protection Act reaches a company with no office in Malta if it offers goods or services to people in Malta, or watches their behaviour in Malta. There is no size or revenue threshold. There is no extra Maltese representative to appoint beyond the one the European rules already require of companies based outside Europe.High confidence	Yes. Swiss privacy law reaches any organisation whose activities have an effect in Switzerland, even one with no office, staff or company here. There is no revenue or headcount threshold to duck under, and there is no register to sign up to. You only need a named representative inside Switzerland if four things are true at once: you are selling to people here or watching what they do, you are doing it on a large scale, you are doing it regularly, and the processing is high risk for the people involved. Very few foreign companies meet all four.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	In general, yes. Malta has no law saying personal data must be stored on the island. It follows the European Union rules: send data outside Europe once you have an approved destination or the right contract. Three areas override that. Online gaming is the big one, and it is Malta's flagship industry.High confidence	In general, yes. Switzerland publishes an official list of countries and territories it considers safe, and data can move to any of them with no extra paperwork. The list has about 44 entries. It covers all 27 European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Canada, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay and New Zealand. It covers the United States only for companies signed up to one specific certification scheme. Japan is not on it, even though the European Union treats Japan as safe. For anywhere not on the list, you sign an approved contract first. But three industries override this completely, and one of them is an outright ban.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	Use the European toolkit. Send data to a country the European Commission has approved, or sign the European standard contract, or use approved group-wide rules. Malta adds nothing on top. Malta's own minister has a power to restrict transfers of named categories of data, but has never used it, so the list of Maltese restrictions is empty today.High confidence	The model is an approved-destinations list, and it is well populated: about 44 countries, territories and one sector-specific entry are on it right now. Send data to a listed place and you need nothing at all. Send it anywhere else and you need one of a short menu of safeguards, the most common being a standard contract. Switzerland has formally accepted the European Union's standard contract template, so most companies can reuse the paperwork they already have.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Information and Data Protection Commissioner. It is real, staffed and issuing decisions: its public register shows around nineteen decisions published in 2026 and thirty-eight in 2025. The fines are small by European standards — most sit between about 2,000 and 20,000 euros (roughly $2,300 to $23,000). The gaming regulator is the harder one, and it cancels licences.High confidence	The main regulator is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. It is real, fully staffed and busy: in the year to 31 March 2026 it ran 156 low-level interventions, 22 preliminary enquiries and 9 formal investigations, and it had 2 cases running in the Federal Administrative Court. It has issued binding orders against a bank, a debt collection firm and a fashion group, and in October 2025 the court confirmed its new way of working. The catch is that this regulator cannot fine anyone. Fines under the privacy law are criminal, they are handed out by cantonal prosecutors, and they land on individual people.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	There is a floor and a ceiling. The floor: company accounting records for ten years, tax and value-added-tax records for at least six years, and anti-money-laundering records for five years. The ceiling: the European rule that you delete personal data once you no longer need it. Where they clash, the specific Maltese law that orders you to keep something wins, because keeping it is then a legal duty.High confidence	Both directions apply and they pull against each other. The floor: business books, accounting records and audit reports must be kept for ten years. Financial market infrastructures keep their records ten years, trade repositories keep trade data ten years after the contract matures, electronic patient record access logs are kept ten years, and telecoms companies keep connection records for six months. The ceiling: the privacy law says personal data must be destroyed or made anonymous as soon as it is no longer needed. There is no fixed number. Where the two clash, the specific legal duty to keep wins.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	Count three clocks, and they do not line up. Seventy-two hours to tell the privacy regulator about a personal data breach. Twenty-four hours to send a first warning about a serious cyber incident, then seventy-two hours for the full report and one month for the final one. Phone and internet companies have their own separate duty to report straight away.High confidence	Count four clocks, not one. The privacy regulator must be told 'as quickly as possible' when a breach is likely to put people at serious risk, with no number of hours attached. If you run critical infrastructure, you have a hard 24 hours to tell the national cyber security office. If you are supervised by the financial regulator, you have 24 hours to notify your supervisor and 72 hours to file the full report. Electronic patient record communities have to report security incidents to the health office. Most failures come from teams who set a single deadline and miss the others.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things that are not in the summary. A child in Malta is thirteen, not sixteen. Health and biometric research needs the regulator's written permission before you start, not just a risk assessment. Copying someone's identity card is restricted. Leaking a client secret can be a crime, not a fine. And the gaming regulator can keep personal data forever, in a law that says so out loud.High confidence	Five things that are not in the summary. One: the penalty is a criminal fine on a named human being, not an administrative fine on the company, so your compliance lead is personally exposed. Two: sending data abroad without a valid safeguard is itself a crime. Three: banking secrecy and medical or legal secrecy are criminal laws with prison ceilings, and a standard supplier contract does not fix them. Four: cantonal authorities and cantonal hospitals are outside the federal law entirely. Five: the 24-hour cyber report has no penalty for being late, which misleads people into thinking it is optional.High confidence
What's about to change?	Three dated changes. On 1 January 2027 a new law stops insurers, banks and employers asking about a cancer diagnosis once enough time has passed since treatment. On 12 January 2027 European rules make cloud switching and data export fees free. And Malta's artificial intelligence rules started phasing in on 2 August 2026, with the privacy regulator now policing the market.High confidence	Nothing in the next twelve months changes where Swiss data may be stored. The electronic identity law has passed but is not switched on yet, and the financial regulator is holding a rule change until it is. A company transparency law hits banks on 1 October 2026. A rewrite of the telecoms surveillance rules has been announced for years and still has not landed. The bigger risk is not new legislation at all: the government can rewrite the approved-destinations list by itself, overnight, with no vote and no consultation.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall	All industries — Att dwar il-Kumpaniji (Kap. 386), artikolu 163	Health and social care — Verordnung ueber das elektronische Patientendossier (EPDV) Finance — FINMA-Rundschreiben 2018/3 'Outsourcing - Banken, Versicherungsunternehmen und ausgewaehlte Finanzinstitute nach FINIG'