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

Countries

UgandaChecked 18 August 2026

Depends on your industryWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Uganda lets data leave if the destination protects it about as well as Uganda does, or the person agreed. There is no list of approved countries and no standard contract, so you judge it yourself and keep the paperwork. Banks are the exception: their records must stay in Uganda for ten years. The regulator is staffed but cannot fine you. It sends serious cases to the police.
The catch: The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you touch three areas. Banks and other licensed financial institutions must keep their ledgers and records inside Uganda. Payment companies cannot hand core operations to an outside supplier, including a foreign cloud, without written permission from the central bank. Telecoms and satellite operators are being given licence conditions that force Ugandan users' traffic through equipment physically in Uganda. Government bodies must also plug their databases into a national data bank run by the state IT agency.
Does this apply to me?: Yes. Uganda's privacy law reaches a company with no office in Uganda if it handles personal data about Ugandan citizens. There is no minimum size, revenue or headcount to fall below. Anyone who collects, processes or controls personal data must also sign up to a public register kept by the regulator and renew that registration every year.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: In general, yes. Data may leave Uganda if the destination country protects personal data at least as well as Uganda's own law does, or if the person the data is about has agreed. Nobody in government approves the transfer first. But four industries override that headline: banking, payments, telecoms and the public sector. Check your industry before you rely on the general rule.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: There is no permit to apply for and no government-approved contract to sign. You must either satisfy yourself that the destination country protects data at least as well as Uganda does, or get the person's consent. The government has never published a list of approved countries, so you make the judgement and keep the evidence. The regulator collects that assessment through its online portal and scores it when you file your yearly compliance report.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The Personal Data Protection Office, which sits inside the state IT agency. It is genuinely up and running: it has its own building in Kampala, a director, published phone numbers and email addresses, and a live portal that handles registration, complaints, breach reports and yearly compliance filings. What it cannot do is fine you. It can order you to fix things, and it passes serious cases to the police. We found no published fines or formal decisions.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: The ceiling is a judgement call: you must not keep personal data longer than you need it for the purpose you collected it for. The floor is hard and long in finance — a licensed bank or other financial institution must keep its records for at least ten years, and inside Uganda. When the two clash, the law wins: the ceiling has a built-in exception for anything you are required or allowed by law to keep.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There are at least three clocks and they do not agree. The law says tell the regulator immediately when you believe someone has got at personal data without permission. The government's own security framework, published in July 2026, says seventy-two hours. Separately, security incidents that do not involve personal data go to the national cyber response team, and banks, telecoms and health bodies must also tell their own regulator. One more twist: you do not decide whether to tell the affected people. The regulator does.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that are not in the summary. One: the law follows Ugandan citizens, not Ugandan residents, so a Ugandan living abroad is still covered. Two: financial information counts as sensitive data in Uganda, which is unusual, so bank and card details attract the strictest rules. Three: there are no regulator fines here — there are criminal charges, up to ten years in prison for an individual, and up to two percent of a company's yearly gross turnover on conviction. Four: if you disagree with the regulator you appeal to a government minister, not to a court. Five: banks must keep their records inside Uganda for ten years, and payment firms need the central bank's written permission before handing core operations to any outside supplier, including a foreign cloud.High confidence
What's about to change?: Nothing dramatic is scheduled in the next twelve months. The main near-term work is rollout: the updated national security framework launched in July 2026 now has to be implemented by government bodies and by operators of critical infrastructure in banking, telecoms, energy, water, transport and health. The bigger risk is the switches the government already holds. The communications regulator can bolt localisation conditions onto any licence with no consultation, and it did exactly that to a satellite operator in May 2026. The ICT minister can rewrite retention periods by statutory instrument, and can raise the value of the fine unit with Cabinet approval alone.Medium confidence
Hardest industry wall: Banking — The Financial Institutions Act
Telecoms — Uganda Communications Commission infrastructure and service licence conditions on localisation and oversight
Government — The National Information Technology Authority, Uganda (National Data Bank) Regulations, 2019

AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026

Yes, with paperworkWork: HighEnforcement: Waking up

In one paragraph: Data can leave Algeria, but not freely. Every transfer abroad needs the national data protection authority's permission unless a listed exception applies, and breaking that rule is a crime carrying prison. Since July 2025 every organisation must have a data protection officer, a processing register and an automatic log of every operation. The regulator is staffed but has issued no known decisions.
The catch: The national rule is already strict, and three areas are stricter still. Online shops must run their site on servers inside Algeria under a .com.dz address. Electronic trust services, such as digital signatures and electronic identity, must host all the data they collect inside Algeria. Public bodies must exchange data only over a state-run network that is deliberately kept separate from the internet. Banking, insurance and securities have no storage rule that we could find, but the central bank's own website could not be reached, so treat that as unchecked rather than settled.
Does this apply to me?: Yes, it can reach a company with no office in Algeria, but the trigger is equipment, not customers. You are covered if you are set up in Algeria, or if you use any means of processing located in Algeria, such as servers or devices. In that second case you must tell the regulator the name of a representative based in Algeria, and that person takes on your rights and duties. There is no size or revenue threshold to fall below.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?: Yes, with permission or a listed excuse. The starting rule is that you may only send personal data to another country if the national data protection authority allows it and that country protects privacy well enough. There is a short list of exceptions that most businesses will rely on instead, such as the person's express consent or a transfer that is needed to carry out their contract. Two things are banned outright: transfers that could harm public safety or the state's vital interests, and any processing of sensitive data such as health, religion, politics or trade union membership unless a narrow exception applies.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?: The model is case by case. Before data goes abroad you need the national data protection authority to authorise it, and the destination country must protect privacy well enough in the authority's judgement. There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract you can sign instead. In practice most companies rely on the written exceptions: the person's express consent, a transfer needed for their contract, a court claim, saving someone's life, an important public interest, an international mutual legal assistance request, medical care, or a treaty Algeria has signed.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?: The national data protection authority, and it does exist in real life. Fifteen members, including a president, were appointed by presidential decree on 18 May 2022 for five years, a new president was appointed in October 2023, and the authority has its own staff, pay scales, an executive secretariat, an official bulletin and internal committees. Its president was still signing published decisions in August 2025. What is missing is enforcement: in four years the official gazette shows only housekeeping texts from the authority, and no fine, order or filing procedure. Treat it as awake but not yet biting.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?: There is a floor and a ceiling, and the floor is the one people miss. Accounting books and the paperwork behind them must be kept for ten years after the end of each financial year. Telephone and internet providers must keep the data that identifies users and their connections for one year. Online sellers must keep records of every transaction and send them to the national trade register centre. The ceiling is that personal data must not be kept in a form that identifies people for longer than the purpose needs, and keeping it too long is a crime.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?: There is no seventy-two hour clock here, and the five-day deadline people quote is not for ordinary businesses. If you provide a service over a public electronic communications network and data is destroyed, lost, altered, disclosed or accessed without permission, you must warn the authority and the affected person straight away, with no fixed number of hours. Failing to do that is a crime punishable by one to three years in prison. The five-day deadline added in July 2025 applies to police, prosecutors, courts and prison services, not to a normal company.High confidence
What's the trap?: Five things that cost people their weekend. One: this is a criminal regime. Sending data abroad in breach of the rule is punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to one million dinars, roughly seven thousand seven hundred US dollars, and prison can attach to individuals. Two: since 24 July 2025 every organisation must appoint a data protection officer, keep a written register of processing and keep an automatic log recording every collection, consultation, disclosure and deletion, with no exemption for small companies. Three: sensitive data is banned by default, and consent must be express, so silence or a pre-ticked box is worth nothing. Four: anything to do with national defence and security now sits completely outside the law, so there is no privacy protection to point to there. Five: a 2021 ordinance makes it a crime to disclose classified administrative documents, it reaches acts committed outside Algeria against the Algerian state, and it can force any person to hand over stored data.High confidence
What's about to change?: Three things to watch in the next twelve months. The five-year terms of the data protection authority's members, appointed on 18 May 2022, run out in May 2027, so appointments are due. The regional inspection and audit units created for the authority in July 2025 still need an implementing regulation before inspectors can appear at your door. And the rules that switch on the new government data framework, two reference documents on classifying data and cataloguing data sources, can be published by a single decision of the High Commission for Digitalisation, at which point every public body and every company running a public service must classify and catalogue its data.High confidence
Hardest industry wall: Telecoms — Loi n° 26-02 fixant les regles generales relatives aux services de confiance pour les transactions electroniques et a l'identification electronique
E-commerce — Loi n° 18-05 relative au commerce electronique
Government — Decret presidentiel n° 25-320 portant mise en place d'un dispositif national de gouvernance des donnees

The same eight topics answered for each selected country
Question	UgandaChecked 18 August 2026	AlgeriaChecked 18 August 2026
The three ratings	Depends on your industry Work: High Enforcement: Waking up	Yes, with paperwork Work: High Enforcement: Waking up
In one paragraph	Uganda lets data leave if the destination protects it about as well as Uganda does, or the person agreed. There is no list of approved countries and no standard contract, so you judge it yourself and keep the paperwork. Banks are the exception: their records must stay in Uganda for ten years. The regulator is staffed but cannot fine you. It sends serious cases to the police.	Data can leave Algeria, but not freely. Every transfer abroad needs the national data protection authority's permission unless a listed exception applies, and breaking that rule is a crime carrying prison. Since July 2025 every organisation must have a data protection officer, a processing register and an automatic log of every operation. The regulator is staffed but has issued no known decisions.
The catch	The relaxed headline stops being true the moment you touch three areas. Banks and other licensed financial institutions must keep their ledgers and records inside Uganda. Payment companies cannot hand core operations to an outside supplier, including a foreign cloud, without written permission from the central bank. Telecoms and satellite operators are being given licence conditions that force Ugandan users' traffic through equipment physically in Uganda. Government bodies must also plug their databases into a national data bank run by the state IT agency.	The national rule is already strict, and three areas are stricter still. Online shops must run their site on servers inside Algeria under a .com.dz address. Electronic trust services, such as digital signatures and electronic identity, must host all the data they collect inside Algeria. Public bodies must exchange data only over a state-run network that is deliberately kept separate from the internet. Banking, insurance and securities have no storage rule that we could find, but the central bank's own website could not be reached, so treat that as unchecked rather than settled.
Does this apply to me?	Yes. Uganda's privacy law reaches a company with no office in Uganda if it handles personal data about Ugandan citizens. There is no minimum size, revenue or headcount to fall below. Anyone who collects, processes or controls personal data must also sign up to a public register kept by the regulator and renew that registration every year.High confidence	Yes, it can reach a company with no office in Algeria, but the trigger is equipment, not customers. You are covered if you are set up in Algeria, or if you use any means of processing located in Algeria, such as servers or devices. In that second case you must tell the regulator the name of a representative based in Algeria, and that person takes on your rights and duties. There is no size or revenue threshold to fall below.High confidence
Can the data leave the country?	In general, yes. Data may leave Uganda if the destination country protects personal data at least as well as Uganda's own law does, or if the person the data is about has agreed. Nobody in government approves the transfer first. But four industries override that headline: banking, payments, telecoms and the public sector. Check your industry before you rely on the general rule.High confidence	Yes, with permission or a listed excuse. The starting rule is that you may only send personal data to another country if the national data protection authority allows it and that country protects privacy well enough. There is a short list of exceptions that most businesses will rely on instead, such as the person's express consent or a transfer that is needed to carry out their contract. Two things are banned outright: transfers that could harm public safety or the state's vital interests, and any processing of sensitive data such as health, religion, politics or trade union membership unless a narrow exception applies.High confidence
What do I have to do to send it abroad?	There is no permit to apply for and no government-approved contract to sign. You must either satisfy yourself that the destination country protects data at least as well as Uganda does, or get the person's consent. The government has never published a list of approved countries, so you make the judgement and keep the evidence. The regulator collects that assessment through its online portal and scores it when you file your yearly compliance report.High confidence	The model is case by case. Before data goes abroad you need the national data protection authority to authorise it, and the destination country must protect privacy well enough in the authority's judgement. There is no published list of approved countries and no official standard contract you can sign instead. In practice most companies rely on the written exceptions: the person's express consent, a transfer needed for their contract, a court claim, saving someone's life, an important public interest, an international mutual legal assistance request, medical care, or a treaty Algeria has signed.High confidence
Who enforces this — and are they actually working?	The Personal Data Protection Office, which sits inside the state IT agency. It is genuinely up and running: it has its own building in Kampala, a director, published phone numbers and email addresses, and a live portal that handles registration, complaints, breach reports and yearly compliance filings. What it cannot do is fine you. It can order you to fix things, and it passes serious cases to the police. We found no published fines or formal decisions.High confidence	The national data protection authority, and it does exist in real life. Fifteen members, including a president, were appointed by presidential decree on 18 May 2022 for five years, a new president was appointed in October 2023, and the authority has its own staff, pay scales, an executive secretariat, an official bulletin and internal committees. Its president was still signing published decisions in August 2025. What is missing is enforcement: in four years the official gazette shows only housekeeping texts from the authority, and no fine, order or filing procedure. Treat it as awake but not yet biting.High confidence
How long must I keep it, and when must I delete it?	The ceiling is a judgement call: you must not keep personal data longer than you need it for the purpose you collected it for. The floor is hard and long in finance — a licensed bank or other financial institution must keep its records for at least ten years, and inside Uganda. When the two clash, the law wins: the ceiling has a built-in exception for anything you are required or allowed by law to keep.High confidence	There is a floor and a ceiling, and the floor is the one people miss. Accounting books and the paperwork behind them must be kept for ten years after the end of each financial year. Telephone and internet providers must keep the data that identifies users and their connections for one year. Online sellers must keep records of every transaction and send them to the national trade register centre. The ceiling is that personal data must not be kept in a form that identifies people for longer than the purpose needs, and keeping it too long is a crime.High confidence
What happens when something goes wrong?	There are at least three clocks and they do not agree. The law says tell the regulator immediately when you believe someone has got at personal data without permission. The government's own security framework, published in July 2026, says seventy-two hours. Separately, security incidents that do not involve personal data go to the national cyber response team, and banks, telecoms and health bodies must also tell their own regulator. One more twist: you do not decide whether to tell the affected people. The regulator does.High confidence	There is no seventy-two hour clock here, and the five-day deadline people quote is not for ordinary businesses. If you provide a service over a public electronic communications network and data is destroyed, lost, altered, disclosed or accessed without permission, you must warn the authority and the affected person straight away, with no fixed number of hours. Failing to do that is a crime punishable by one to three years in prison. The five-day deadline added in July 2025 applies to police, prosecutors, courts and prison services, not to a normal company.High confidence
What's the trap?	Five things that are not in the summary. One: the law follows Ugandan citizens, not Ugandan residents, so a Ugandan living abroad is still covered. Two: financial information counts as sensitive data in Uganda, which is unusual, so bank and card details attract the strictest rules. Three: there are no regulator fines here — there are criminal charges, up to ten years in prison for an individual, and up to two percent of a company's yearly gross turnover on conviction. Four: if you disagree with the regulator you appeal to a government minister, not to a court. Five: banks must keep their records inside Uganda for ten years, and payment firms need the central bank's written permission before handing core operations to any outside supplier, including a foreign cloud.High confidence	Five things that cost people their weekend. One: this is a criminal regime. Sending data abroad in breach of the rule is punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to one million dinars, roughly seven thousand seven hundred US dollars, and prison can attach to individuals. Two: since 24 July 2025 every organisation must appoint a data protection officer, keep a written register of processing and keep an automatic log recording every collection, consultation, disclosure and deletion, with no exemption for small companies. Three: sensitive data is banned by default, and consent must be express, so silence or a pre-ticked box is worth nothing. Four: anything to do with national defence and security now sits completely outside the law, so there is no privacy protection to point to there. Five: a 2021 ordinance makes it a crime to disclose classified administrative documents, it reaches acts committed outside Algeria against the Algerian state, and it can force any person to hand over stored data.High confidence
What's about to change?	Nothing dramatic is scheduled in the next twelve months. The main near-term work is rollout: the updated national security framework launched in July 2026 now has to be implemented by government bodies and by operators of critical infrastructure in banking, telecoms, energy, water, transport and health. The bigger risk is the switches the government already holds. The communications regulator can bolt localisation conditions onto any licence with no consultation, and it did exactly that to a satellite operator in May 2026. The ICT minister can rewrite retention periods by statutory instrument, and can raise the value of the fine unit with Cabinet approval alone.Medium confidence	Three things to watch in the next twelve months. The five-year terms of the data protection authority's members, appointed on 18 May 2022, run out in May 2027, so appointments are due. The regional inspection and audit units created for the authority in July 2025 still need an implementing regulation before inspectors can appear at your door. And the rules that switch on the new government data framework, two reference documents on classifying data and cataloguing data sources, can be published by a single decision of the High Commission for Digitalisation, at which point every public body and every company running a public service must classify and catalogue its data.High confidence
Hardest industry wall	Banking — The Financial Institutions Act Telecoms — Uganda Communications Commission infrastructure and service licence conditions on localisation and oversight Government — The National Information Technology Authority, Uganda (National Data Bank) Regulations, 2019	Telecoms — Loi n° 26-02 fixant les regles generales relatives aux services de confiance pour les transactions electroniques et a l'identification electronique E-commerce — Loi n° 18-05 relative au commerce electronique Government — Decret presidentiel n° 25-320 portant mise en place d'un dispositif national de gouvernance des donnees