Microsoft is working on a solution that will no longer store the data of customers of cloud services such as Azure, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 outside the European Union. The software giant says that it is going further than the existing obligations set by the EU for storing data. If everything goes according to plan, customers can choose from the end of next year (2022) to have all their data stored within the EU at all times. Microsoft calls it the EU data boundary (EU Data Boundery) of Microsoft Cloud.
'Beyond EU directives'
According to the letter of the law, Microsoft already complies with the EU regulations for data storage. Incidentally, this does not include the hard obligation that certain (user) data may not be stored outside the EU. But, according to the software company, they want to offer customers within the EU the option to choose that their data is always stored within the borders of the EU.
This means that both commercial and public customers of Microsoft will soon be given the choice that all personal data will be processed and stored within the EU. This includes all personal data contained in diagnostics and data generated by the cloud services, as well as the personal data that Microsft uses to provide technical support.
More details 'after the summer'
After the summer, Microsoft will reveal more details about the EU Data Boundary. This will happen during the EU Cloud Customer Summit. It will then also become known when the new possibilities for "local" storage of data will become available to all customers.
In addition to carrying out the necessary technical work, the coming months will also be used for discussions with EU regulators to inform them of the plans. In addition, any adjustments needed in unique circumstances such as cybersecurity are underway. Any feedback from the regulators will, according to Microsoft, be processed correctly.
