Data Hosting in Europe: Why It's Essential

Hosting Data in Europe: Why It’s Become an Imperative

Where is your customer data hosted? If you can’t answer that question with certainty, you have a problem. And if the answer is “somewhere in the United States, on AWS or Google Cloud,” you have an even bigger problem.

Hosting data in Europe is no longer a luxury or an ideological choice. It’s a legal necessity, a client expectation, and a competitive advantage. Here’s why.

The Problem: The US CLOUD Act

The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), adopted in 2018 by the US Congress, authorizes US authorities to demand that any American company hand over data it controls — regardless of the country where that data is physically stored.

Concretely: if you host your European customers’ data on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, the US government can legally demand access to that data, even if it’s stored in a data center in Frankfurt or Paris.

This is not a theoretical hypothesis. This is current US law.

The CLOUD Act’s reach is often underestimated. It doesn’t only concern major platforms. Any American company — including a San Francisco-based SaaS startup providing a project management tool — is potentially subject to the CLOUD Act. If that company hosts or controls data on your behalf, the US government can access it without even informing you. The CLOUD Act imposes no notification obligation to the European company whose data is targeted.

The GDPR (Article 48) prohibits personal data transfers to a third country based on that country’s judicial or administrative decision, unless there is an international agreement. The CLOUD Act does not rely on any international agreement recognized by the EU.

This creates an impossible equation: American companies are legally required to provide the data (CLOUD Act) and legally prohibited from transferring it (GDPR). And it’s the European client company that bears the risk.

The European Commission’s position is clear: in its guidelines on international transfers, it states that European companies cannot comply with an access request from a foreign authority unless that request is governed by a recognized international agreement. But the operational reality is that the American company will obey the CLOUD Act, regardless of its European client’s objections.

The Schrems II Ruling and Its Consequences

In July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Privacy Shield in the “Schrems II” ruling. The reason: US surveillance programs (notably FISA Section 702) do not guarantee a level of protection equivalent to the GDPR.

This ruling had a direct effect: personal data transfers to the United States no longer benefit from automatic protection.

History’s lessons are telling. Safe Harbor was invalidated in 2015 (Schrems I). The Privacy Shield was invalidated in 2020 (Schrems II). The EU-US Data Privacy Framework, adopted in 2023, could suffer the same fate. With each invalidation, companies that built their data strategy on these legal frameworks found themselves non-compliant overnight.

The EU-US Data Privacy Framework: A Fragile Balance

In July 2023, the European Commission adopted a new adequacy decision — the EU-US Data Privacy Framework — based on a presidential executive order (Executive Order 14086) limiting US intelligence services’ access to European data.

But this framework is already contested:

noyb (Max Schrems’ association) has announced its intention to challenge the framework before the CJEU
The EU General Court rejected an initial challenge in 2025, but the case can still be brought before the CJEU
In March 2025, Max Schrems publicly flagged that changes in US oversight agencies (PCLOB, FTC) could force the European Commission to suspend the framework itself
A CJEU ruling in late 2025 or early 2026 could invalidate the Data Privacy Framework, forcing companies back to Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) — exactly as after Schrems II

Building your data strategy on such an unstable legal framework is a risky bet.

Chapter V of the GDPR (Articles 44 to 49) strictly governs personal data transfers to third countries.

General principle (Article 44): Any transfer may only take place if the controller and processor comply with Chapter V conditions, ensuring the GDPR’s level of protection is not undermined.

Authorized mechanisms:

Adequacy decision (Article 45): the European Commission has determined that the third country offers an adequate level of protection. This applies to Japan, the UK, South Korea — and the United States via the Data Privacy Framework (as long as it holds).
Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46): standard contracts approved by the Commission that contractually govern the transfer. This is the most widely used mechanism, but it requires the controller to concretely assess the level of protection in the destination country.
Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) (Article 47): for multinational groups, an internal framework approved by a data protection authority.

The reality: when your data stays in Europe, the question of transfers outside the EU simply doesn’t arise. It’s the simplest, safest, and most durable solution.

Transfer Impact Assessments (TIAs) are an often-overlooked obligation. Since Schrems II, any company using Standard Contractual Clauses for a transfer outside the EU must conduct a TIA: a concrete assessment of the protection level in the destination country, accounting for local surveillance legislation. This is a complex and costly legal exercise that hosting in Europe simply eliminates.

The European Data Act: An Additional Layer of Protection

Applicable since September 2025, the European Data Act further strengthens protection. Chapter VII requires cloud service providers operating in the EU to implement technical, legal, and organizational measures to prevent unauthorized access by non-European governments to data stored in Europe.

Faced with an access request from a third-country government (including a CLOUD Act request), the provider must assess whether the request is justified, specific, proportionate, and compatible with European law.

The Data Act also introduces a right to cloud data portability. European companies must be able to migrate their data from one cloud provider to another without excessive technical or contractual barriers. This is a major advance in reducing lock-in with US hyperscalers and facilitating migration to European alternatives.

Sovereign European Alternatives

The European cloud ecosystem has significantly strengthened in recent years.

Scaleway (France)

French cloud infrastructure, subsidiary of the Iliad group. ISO 27001 certified, data centers in France and the Netherlands. This is the hosting provider chosen by DPLIANCE for all its solutions: Mirage Analytics, Cookilio, and Complio.

OVHcloud (France)

Europe’s leading cloud provider, publicly listed. Offers IaaS and PaaS services without structural US technological dependency. First 3-AZ region in Germany launched in November 2025.

Infomaniak (Switzerland)

Independent Swiss hosting provider, powered by 100% renewable energy. Offers GDPR-compliant cloud, email, and collaboration tools.

Clever Cloud (France)

French PaaS for application deployment. Hosted in France, no dependency on US hyperscalers.

The SecNumCloud Framework

ANSSI’s (France’s National Cybersecurity Agency) SecNumCloud certification verifies that cloud service providers offer the highest guarantees in terms of security and sovereignty: data located in France, immunity from extraterritorial laws, access control, regular audits.

S3NS (Thales / Google Cloud joint venture) obtained SecNumCloud 3.2 certification in December 2025, but Google’s involvement in the structure raises questions about actual sovereignty.

Technical maturity is no longer a barrier. The argument that European clouds are less performant or reliable than AWS or Google Cloud no longer holds. Major European providers offer comparable SLAs, equivalent availability, and often superior network performance for European use cases. The gap mainly exists in advanced managed services (large-scale machine learning, globally distributed databases), which rarely concern SMBs.

How DPLIANCE Hosts Its Solutions in Europe

At DPLIANCE, the hosting question was never a debate. All our solutions are hosted on Scaleway, in Europe. Period.

Mirage Analytics: your visitors’ analytics data stays in Europe. Zero cookies, zero persistent trackers, zero transfers outside the EU.
Cookilio: your CMP is hosted in Europe. Your users’ consent preferences never leave European soil.
Complio: your site audit results are stored in Europe. The embedded AI (Mistral, a French model) processes data without sending it across the Atlantic.

Sovereignty is not a marketing argument. It’s an architecture decision made from day one.

Concrete Impact for Businesses

Simplified Compliance

When your data stays in Europe, you don’t need Standard Contractual Clauses, Transfer Impact Assessments, or monitoring of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework’s evolution. You eliminate an entire layer of legal complexity.

Client Trust

More and more clients — particularly in the public sector, healthcare, and finance — contractually require their data to be hosted in Europe. It’s a selection criterion in procurement tenders. Not being able to guarantee European hosting can exclude you from important markets.

Protection Against Geopolitical Risks

Trade and geopolitical tensions between Europe and the United States make transatlantic data transfers increasingly uncertain. Hosting in Europe means protecting yourself against a risk you don’t control.

The DORA Regulation

Since January 2025, the DORA regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act) imposes specific requirements on the European financial sector regarding risk management for third-party cloud providers. Financial institutions must audit their subcontractors and ensure their critical infrastructure isn’t concentrated with non-European providers.

The NIS 2 Directive

In effect since October 2024, NIS 2 extends cybersecurity obligations to many sectors (energy, transport, healthcare, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, postal services, waste management). Affected companies must strengthen the security of their digital supply chain, including choosing cloud providers offering adequate security and sovereignty guarantees.

Practical Guide: How to Migrate to European Hosting

Step 1: Map Your Data Flows

Identify all services that store or process personal data on your behalf. Don’t forget the “invisible” services: CDN, web fonts, analytics tools, embedded widgets, payment services.

Step 2: Prioritize by Sensitivity

Classify your data by sensitivity level. Customer data, health data, and financial data should be migrated first. Less sensitive data (analytics, technical logs) can follow later.

Step 3: Identify European Alternatives

For each US service, identify one or more European alternatives. For analytics, Mirage Analytics replaces Google Analytics in minutes. For hosting, Scaleway, OVHcloud, or Clever Cloud offer equivalent services.

Step 4: Plan and Execute the Migration

Don’t migrate everything at once. Proceed service by service, testing each migration before making the final switch. Document each step for your processing records.

FAQ

Hosting in Europe eliminates transfer-related issues, but alone doesn’t guarantee full GDPR compliance. You must also respect the principles of minimization, security, transparency, and individual rights. Sovereign hosting is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one.

Is the EU-US Data Privacy Framework reliable?

Its longevity is uncertain. The framework is legally contested by noyb and could be invalidated by the CJEU, like its predecessors (Safe Harbor in 2015, Privacy Shield in 2020). Building your data strategy on this framework means betting on its survival. Companies that made this bet with Safe Harbor and the Privacy Shield regretted it.

Is sovereign hosting more expensive?

Not necessarily. Scaleway, OVHcloud, and Clever Cloud pricing is competitive with AWS and Google Cloud, sometimes lower for certain use cases. The real cost of US hosting includes legal risks, additional compliance costs (TIAs, SCCs, transfer documentation), and exposure to an unstable regulatory framework.

Can my European hosting provider be compelled by the CLOUD Act?

No, unless it’s a subsidiary or entity controlled by a US company. An independent European hosting provider (Scaleway, OVHcloud, Infomaniak) is not subject to the CLOUD Act. That’s the whole point of choosing a provider with no ownership ties to the United States.

How do I migrate my data to a European host?

Start by mapping your data flows and identifying services hosted outside Europe. Prioritize the most sensitive data (customer, health, financial data). For analytics, replacing Google Analytics with Mirage Analytics takes minutes with a simple snippet.

Does encryption protect against the CLOUD Act?

Encryption is an essential security measure, but it doesn’t protect against the CLOUD Act if the US company holds the encryption keys. Only end-to-end encryption where keys are exclusively held by the European client offers real protection. But this approach complicates cloud service usage. Hosting with an independent European provider remains the simplest and most robust solution.

Sources: CLOUD Act (Wikipedia), CNIL — Data transfers outside the EU, CJEU — Schrems II ruling (C-311/18), European Commission — EU-US Data Privacy Framework, noyb — Data Privacy Framework challenge. Article updated March 24, 2026.