With a new initiative called “ EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud “, the Redmond tech giant has announced its intention to allow its customers from the European Union , to store all their data within the region by 2022 . As the name also suggests, the plan will be applied to all of the company's major cloud services, namely Microsoft 365 , Dynamics 365 and Azure . Microsoft claims this will bring greater peace of mind to customers who want guarantees regarding residence and location some data.
The Redmond-based tech firm says most of its online services allow users to select geographic locations for data retention , but in the coming months, it will further improve them to reduce data transfer outside the EU . Customers will still be able to use the service improvements that make use of resources located outside the EU.
Microsoft's online services already allow customers to comply with the GDPR even without this additional commitment to store and process data within the borders of the EU. We have implemented additional measures since the Schrems II decision to further support compliance for data transfers, which we believe meet and go beyond what is required by the Schrems II decision. We are making these additional investments to process and store data in the European Union by the end of 2022. This demonstrates our continued commitment to our customers in Europe and simplifies post-Schrems II compliance by minimizing data transfers beyond outside the borders of the EU.
Microsoft
The company also specified that will not give the United States government, or any other government , access to European data , and will redirect all these requests to customers.
