Data Embassies - Purposes, Features and Limitations

Data Embassies – Purposes, features and limitations

Singapore Academy of Law

February 2024

A data embassy is a place within the territory of a state (the host state) that processes and/or hosts data that originates from another state (the guest state) under a legal arrangement where the transferor of the data (the customer of the data embassy) is afforded special privileges by the host state.

This fully-cited and hyperlinked publication provides an overview of the data embassy concept, including its purposes, features, limitations and analogies with diplomatic missions from which inspirations are drawn, and includes a comprehensive mapping of the two primary data embassy models in operation today.

Jurisdictions covered by the publication: Bahrain, Estonia, Monaco and Luxembourg.

Readers are recommended to consume this publication together with an issues paper on data embassy available for free download at https://payhip.com/b/xmpS3.

Table of content

Data embassies: An overview (pp 4-45)

Estonia–Luxembourg Data Embassy Agreement (pp 46-71)

Bahrain’s Cloud Law (pp 72-127)

Monaco-Luxembourg Data Embassy Agreement (pp 128-157)

Data embassy crimes (Monaco) (pp 158–170)

Annexures

Legislative Decree No. 56 of 2018 In Respect of Providing Cloud Computing Services to Foreign Parties (pp 171 -176)

Agreement between the Republic of Estonia and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on the hosting of data and information systems (pp 177 – 183)

Accord du 15 juillet 2021 entre la Principauté de Monaco et le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg concernant l'hébergement de données et de systèmes d'information, signé à Luxembourg and its machine-translated English version (pp 184 -206)

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations Done at Vienna on 18 April 1961 (pp 207 – 229)

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations Done at Vienna on 24 April 1963 (pp 230 – 271)