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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)

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	NepalChecked 18 August 2026	GreeceChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: Medium Enforcement: Dormant	Depends on your industry 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.	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 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.	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?	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 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?	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	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?	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	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?	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	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?	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	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?	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	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. 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	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?	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	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	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)	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)