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

Countries

NepalChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: MediumEnforcement: Dormant

In one paragraph: Nepal's privacy law says nothing about sending data abroad, so on paper data can leave freely. There is no privacy regulator at all: breaches are criminal matters taken to a local court, the maximum fine is about 215 US dollars, and no case has produced a public penalty. The real constraint is a 2025 rule on data centres and cloud services, which says customers may only buy hosting from providers on a government list.
The catch: The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you look at where the data physically sits. Since January 2025 anyone buying data centre or cloud services in Nepal is supposed to use only providers listed by the Department of Information Technology, and to get listed a provider must be a Nepal-registered company with a physical building in Nepal. Government security agencies must use the state's own data centre, other government bodies are being moved into it, and card payments made in Nepali rupees must be settled inside Nepal.
Does this apply to me?: It is unclear, and that is the honest answer. The Privacy Act covers public bodies and companies handling people's information, but it never says whether it reaches a company sitting outside Nepal, and it does not ask you to appoint anyone locally. Two other laws clearly do reach you from abroad: the computer-crime law applies to acts done outside Nepal that involve a computer located in Nepal, and the central bank's payment licensing policy expressly covers firms set up abroad that carry out payment business inside Nepal. There is no revenue or company-size threshold to fall below.Medium confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Under the privacy law, yes — it is silent on sending personal data out of Nepal, so there is nothing to comply with. But the country still has walls, and they are about where the machines are rather than where the data goes. Since January 2025 anyone buying data centre or cloud services is meant to use only providers on the government's published list, and listing requires a Nepal-registered company with a building in Nepal. Government security agencies must use the state's own data centre, and card payments made in Nepali rupees must be settled inside Nepal.Medium confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: Nothing. There is no approval to get, no standard contract to sign and no list of approved countries, because Nepal's privacy law simply does not deal with sending data abroad. The control that does exist works the other way round: it is an approved-supplier list for hosting. The Department of Information Technology lists data centre and cloud providers, and customers are told to use only listed ones.Medium confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: For personal data, nobody. Nepal has no privacy regulator and no data protection authority. A person whose privacy is breached files a criminal complaint in their local district court within three months, and the court can also award compensation. The bodies that are genuinely active work on cyber security and on industry rules, not on privacy: the National Cyber Security Center published advisories as recently as April 2026, the telecoms authority collects security audit reports, the central bank issues payment directives, and the Department of Information Technology is running the data centre listing scheme.Medium confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a floor and almost no ceiling. Tax records must be kept for five years after the tax year ends. Telecom operators must keep security logs for at least six months and internet address-translation logs for at least three months. Data centres must keep camera footage for at least three months. Going the other way, the privacy law has no general delete-by date, so the only real deletion duty found is a telecom rule that says paper customer forms must be destroyed once they have been scanned.Medium confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There is no general duty to report a personal data breach in Nepal — not to a regulator, and not to the people affected. No rule found sets a deadline in hours. Two narrower duties do exist. A data centre or cloud provider that finds someone has got into its systems must tell the regulator and the National Cyber Security Center immediately, by the fastest means available. A telecom operator hit by a security incident must work with a standing task force at the telecoms authority.Medium confidence
What's the trap?: Five. First, privacy breaches are criminal, not administrative — the exposure is up to three years in prison for an individual, not a corporate fine. Second, a victim has only three months from the act to complain, so most claims die of old age. Third, your cloud vendor must be on the government's list, which makes this a supplier problem rather than a policy problem. Fourth, anyone under 18 needs a guardian's consent — there is no lower digital age. Fifth, the online-content offence in the electronic transactions law carries up to five years in prison for material judged contrary to public morality, and it is written vaguely enough to catch ordinary posts.High confidence
What's about to change?: No data protection law is on the way that we could find, and no bill for one is before parliament. What is moving is telecoms and broadcasting: the ministry published discussion papers for a new Telecommunications Bill and a National Mass Communication Bill on 5 August 2026. The telecoms authority is consulting on amending its 2020 cyber security rules, on a framework for streaming and messaging services, and on a rule to force the move to newer internet addressing.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: All industries — डाटा सेन्टर तथा क्लाउड सेवा (सञ्चालन तथा व्यवस्थापन) निर्देशिका, २०८१ (Data Center and Cloud Service (Operation and Management) Directives, 2081)
Payments — भुक्तानी प्रणालीसम्बन्धी एकीकृत निर्देशन, २०८२ (Unified Directive on Payment Systems, 2082)

GermanyChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Active

In one paragraph: Contrary to widespread belief, neither Europe nor Germany requires personal data to be stored in Europe. What the law requires is a valid legal instrument before data leaves — an official decision that the destination is safe enough, or a standard contract, plus a documented risk assessment. Germany then adds its own layer on top, and one genuine hard wall: health and social data may only be processed in the cloud within Europe, by a provider holding a specific German security certificate.
The catch: 'Germany doesn't require local storage' is true right up until you sell to a hospital, a health insurer, a doctor, a lawyer or a tax adviser. In health and social care it is simply false, and for the professional-secrecy trades a standard data processing agreement is not enough and getting it wrong is a criminal matter.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it reaches you with no office in Germany. Europe's privacy law applies to any organisation anywhere that offers goods or services to people in Europe or monitors their behaviour. If you have no European establishment you must also appoint a representative inside Europe.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes — with paperwork. This is the single most misunderstood point in the field. European law does not say where data must sit; it says what you must have in place before it leaves Europe. Storage location is a risk factor in that assessment, never a prohibition. For non-personal data, Europe goes further and actually forbids member states from imposing storage-location rules.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: One of three routes. Best case, the destination is on Europe's official 'adequate' list and you need nothing extra — currently 17 entries including the UK, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Canada for commercial bodies, Brazil since January 2026, and the United States but only for companies self-certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Otherwise you sign Europe's standard contract clauses, or get group-wide internal rules approved. In either of those two cases you must also document an assessment of whether the destination country's surveillance laws undermine the protection.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: Eighteen separate authorities, and for a private company it is almost never the federal one. Each of the 16 states has its own regulator, and you answer to the one where your German office is. The federal regulator handles government bodies plus telecoms and postal operators. Bavaria splits it further, with different bodies for private and public sector. If you operate across Europe, a separate rule lets you deal mainly with the regulator where your main European establishment sits.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: Business records have a floor: accounting vouchers must be kept 8 years (cut from 10 with effect from 2025, and from 2026 for banks and insurers), the annual accounts and trading books still 10 years, and business correspondence 6 years. Privacy law pushes the other way — don't keep personal data longer than you need it. Where the two collide, German law has an elegant answer: you restrict processing of the data instead of deleting it.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: 72 hours to tell your state regulator about a personal data breach, and without undue delay to tell affected people where the risk to them is high. Separately, since December 2025 Germany's cybersecurity law adds its own clocks for around 29,500 in-scope companies: a first warning within 24 hours, an update at 72 hours, and a full report within a month. Financial firms follow a separate European regime instead.High confidence
What's the trap?: Four. (1) Health and social data really does have to stay in Europe, with a specific German security certificate — the general 'no localisation' answer is wrong here. (2) For doctors, lawyers, tax advisers and notaries, a standard data processing agreement is NOT enough: you need explicit secrecy undertakings flowed down to every subcontractor, and breach is a criminal offence, not a fine. (3) Germany still requires a data protection officer at just 20 employees involved in data processing — far stricter than European law, and still in force despite a government promise to scrap it by the end of 2026. (4) The German rule people cite for employee data was effectively struck down by Europe's top court in 2023 but never removed from the statute book, so citing it as your legal basis is a mistake.High confidence
What's about to change?: Two hard dates and one live risk. From 12 January 2027 every cloud provider must drop switching and data egress fees to zero — renegotiate contracts now. By 31 December 2026 Germany's banking IT rulebook is fully withdrawn in favour of the European financial regime. The live risk is the US arrangement: Europe's data protection board formally asked the Commission on 31 July 2026 to review whether it is still valid, and a separate court appeal is pending. If it falls, thousands of transfers move to standard contracts overnight.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Health and social care — § 393 SGB V — Cloud-Einsatz im Gesundheitswesen
Telecoms — §§ 175–181 TKG — Vorratsdatenspeicherung

The eight framework questions answered for each selected country
Question	NepalChecked 18 August 2026	GermanyChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: Medium Enforcement: Dormant	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Active
In one paragraph	Nepal's privacy law says nothing about sending data abroad, so on paper data can leave freely. There is no privacy regulator at all: breaches are criminal matters taken to a local court, the maximum fine is about 215 US dollars, and no case has produced a public penalty. The real constraint is a 2025 rule on data centres and cloud services, which says customers may only buy hosting from providers on a government list.	Contrary to widespread belief, neither Europe nor Germany requires personal data to be stored in Europe. What the law requires is a valid legal instrument before data leaves — an official decision that the destination is safe enough, or a standard contract, plus a documented risk assessment. Germany then adds its own layer on top, and one genuine hard wall: health and social data may only be processed in the cloud within Europe, by a provider holding a specific German security certificate.
The catch	The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you look at where the data physically sits. Since January 2025 anyone buying data centre or cloud services in Nepal is supposed to use only providers listed by the Department of Information Technology, and to get listed a provider must be a Nepal-registered company with a physical building in Nepal. Government security agencies must use the state's own data centre, other government bodies are being moved into it, and card payments made in Nepali rupees must be settled inside Nepal.	'Germany doesn't require local storage' is true right up until you sell to a hospital, a health insurer, a doctor, a lawyer or a tax adviser. In health and social care it is simply false, and for the professional-secrecy trades a standard data processing agreement is not enough and getting it wrong is a criminal matter.
Does this apply to me?	It is unclear, and that is the honest answer. The Privacy Act covers public bodies and companies handling people's information, but it never says whether it reaches a company sitting outside Nepal, and it does not ask you to appoint anyone locally. Two other laws clearly do reach you from abroad: the computer-crime law applies to acts done outside Nepal that involve a computer located in Nepal, and the central bank's payment licensing policy expressly covers firms set up abroad that carry out payment business inside Nepal. There is no revenue or company-size threshold to fall below.Medium confidence	Yes, it reaches you with no office in Germany. Europe's privacy law applies to any organisation anywhere that offers goods or services to people in Europe or monitors their behaviour. If you have no European establishment you must also appoint a representative inside Europe.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	Under the privacy law, yes — it is silent on sending personal data out of Nepal, so there is nothing to comply with. But the country still has walls, and they are about where the machines are rather than where the data goes. Since January 2025 anyone buying data centre or cloud services is meant to use only providers on the government's published list, and listing requires a Nepal-registered company with a building in Nepal. Government security agencies must use the state's own data centre, and card payments made in Nepali rupees must be settled inside Nepal.Medium confidence	Yes — with paperwork. This is the single most misunderstood point in the field. European law does not say where data must sit; it says what you must have in place before it leaves Europe. Storage location is a risk factor in that assessment, never a prohibition. For non-personal data, Europe goes further and actually forbids member states from imposing storage-location rules.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	Nothing. There is no approval to get, no standard contract to sign and no list of approved countries, because Nepal's privacy law simply does not deal with sending data abroad. The control that does exist works the other way round: it is an approved-supplier list for hosting. The Department of Information Technology lists data centre and cloud providers, and customers are told to use only listed ones.Medium confidence	One of three routes. Best case, the destination is on Europe's official 'adequate' list and you need nothing extra — currently 17 entries including the UK, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Canada for commercial bodies, Brazil since January 2026, and the United States but only for companies self-certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Otherwise you sign Europe's standard contract clauses, or get group-wide internal rules approved. In either of those two cases you must also document an assessment of whether the destination country's surveillance laws undermine the protection.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	For personal data, nobody. Nepal has no privacy regulator and no data protection authority. A person whose privacy is breached files a criminal complaint in their local district court within three months, and the court can also award compensation. The bodies that are genuinely active work on cyber security and on industry rules, not on privacy: the National Cyber Security Center published advisories as recently as April 2026, the telecoms authority collects security audit reports, the central bank issues payment directives, and the Department of Information Technology is running the data centre listing scheme.Medium confidence	Eighteen separate authorities, and for a private company it is almost never the federal one. Each of the 16 states has its own regulator, and you answer to the one where your German office is. The federal regulator handles government bodies plus telecoms and postal operators. Bavaria splits it further, with different bodies for private and public sector. If you operate across Europe, a separate rule lets you deal mainly with the regulator where your main European establishment sits.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	There is a floor and almost no ceiling. Tax records must be kept for five years after the tax year ends. Telecom operators must keep security logs for at least six months and internet address-translation logs for at least three months. Data centres must keep camera footage for at least three months. Going the other way, the privacy law has no general delete-by date, so the only real deletion duty found is a telecom rule that says paper customer forms must be destroyed once they have been scanned.Medium confidence	Business records have a floor: accounting vouchers must be kept 8 years (cut from 10 with effect from 2025, and from 2026 for banks and insurers), the annual accounts and trading books still 10 years, and business correspondence 6 years. Privacy law pushes the other way — don't keep personal data longer than you need it. Where the two collide, German law has an elegant answer: you restrict processing of the data instead of deleting it.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	There is no general duty to report a personal data breach in Nepal — not to a regulator, and not to the people affected. No rule found sets a deadline in hours. Two narrower duties do exist. A data centre or cloud provider that finds someone has got into its systems must tell the regulator and the National Cyber Security Center immediately, by the fastest means available. A telecom operator hit by a security incident must work with a standing task force at the telecoms authority.Medium confidence	72 hours to tell your state regulator about a personal data breach, and without undue delay to tell affected people where the risk to them is high. Separately, since December 2025 Germany's cybersecurity law adds its own clocks for around 29,500 in-scope companies: a first warning within 24 hours, an update at 72 hours, and a full report within a month. Financial firms follow a separate European regime instead.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five. First, privacy breaches are criminal, not administrative — the exposure is up to three years in prison for an individual, not a corporate fine. Second, a victim has only three months from the act to complain, so most claims die of old age. Third, your cloud vendor must be on the government's list, which makes this a supplier problem rather than a policy problem. Fourth, anyone under 18 needs a guardian's consent — there is no lower digital age. Fifth, the online-content offence in the electronic transactions law carries up to five years in prison for material judged contrary to public morality, and it is written vaguely enough to catch ordinary posts.High confidence	Four. (1) Health and social data really does have to stay in Europe, with a specific German security certificate — the general 'no localisation' answer is wrong here. (2) For doctors, lawyers, tax advisers and notaries, a standard data processing agreement is NOT enough: you need explicit secrecy undertakings flowed down to every subcontractor, and breach is a criminal offence, not a fine. (3) Germany still requires a data protection officer at just 20 employees involved in data processing — far stricter than European law, and still in force despite a government promise to scrap it by the end of 2026. (4) The German rule people cite for employee data was effectively struck down by Europe's top court in 2023 but never removed from the statute book, so citing it as your legal basis is a mistake.High confidence
What's about to change?	No data protection law is on the way that we could find, and no bill for one is before parliament. What is moving is telecoms and broadcasting: the ministry published discussion papers for a new Telecommunications Bill and a National Mass Communication Bill on 5 August 2026. The telecoms authority is consulting on amending its 2020 cyber security rules, on a framework for streaming and messaging services, and on a rule to force the move to newer internet addressing.Medium confidence	Two hard dates and one live risk. From 12 January 2027 every cloud provider must drop switching and data egress fees to zero — renegotiate contracts now. By 31 December 2026 Germany's banking IT rulebook is fully withdrawn in favour of the European financial regime. The live risk is the US arrangement: Europe's data protection board formally asked the Commission on 31 July 2026 to review whether it is still valid, and a separate court appeal is pending. If it falls, thousands of transfers move to standard contracts overnight.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	All industries — डाटा सेन्टर तथा क्लाउड सेवा (सञ्चालन तथा व्यवस्थापन) निर्देशिका, २०८१ (Data Center and Cloud Service (Operation and Management) Directives, 2081) Payments — भुक्तानी प्रणालीसम्बन्धी एकीकृत निर्देशन, २०८२ (Unified Directive on Payment Systems, 2082)	Health and social care — § 393 SGB V — Cloud-Einsatz im Gesundheitswesen Telecoms — §§ 175–181 TKG — Vorratsdatenspeicherung