Cross-border data flow in the digital single market : study on data location restrictions : final report

This Final Report is the result of: 'Cross-border data flow in the digital single market: study on data location restrictions' (SMART 2015/0054), undertaken by time.lex, Spark Legal Network and Tech4i2. The objectives of the study were to a) identify and analyse legal and non-legal barriers that hinder the free flow of data within the EU, and b) quantify the impact of these barriers for private and public sector users, and suppliers of cloud computing services. These objectives were achieved through a step-by-step approach, undertaken across seven tasks. Consequently, this report contains: the identification of compliance obligations across the EU (tasks 1 and 2); examples of barriers which complement the analytical framework, results of a survey and in-depth interviews with stakeholders (tasks 2 and 3); an analytical framework that allows for the definition of concepts of barriers to the free flow of data, defining a common understanding of data requirements in the EU (task 4); the results of an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of data location restrictions (task 5) and recommendations for functional requirements and future policy concepts, to facilitate cross border data flow within the EU (tasks 6 and 7).