Microsoft has confirmed that it allow all commercial and public sector customers in the European Union to process and store their data in the region by the end of 2022. Under the "EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud” plan, the company expects to finish the required engineering work by the end of next year, meaning customers using its core cloud services – Azure, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 – will be able to have their data stored in the EU.
Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer Brad Smith outlined the plans in a blog, saying the move confirms the company’s commitment to meet and exceed the requirements of EU data protection laws, above all the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that took effect in 2018. He said the EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud plan will use the company’s existing data centres in 13 countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland), with customers in Norway and Switzerland also covered.
Smith added that Microsoft will consult with customers and regulators about its plan in the coming months, “including adjustments needed in unique circumstances like cybersecurity”. He said the company is also creating a Privacy Engineering Centre of Excellence in Dublin to guide European customers in choosing the right solutions for building data protection into their cloud workloads, including to meet regulatory requirements.
