What are cross-border data-transfer requirements?

When personal data moves from one jurisdiction to another-particularly from the European Union to countries outside the EU-specific legal mechanisms must be in place to ensure the data remains protected. Under GDPR, transferring personal data to a third country (any country outside the EEA) is only permitted if that country provides adequate protection, appropriate safeguards are implemented, or a specific derogation applies. This affects email marketers who use ESPs, cloud services, or analytics platforms headquartered in the United States or other non-EU jurisdictions, even if subscribers never interact directly with those services.

The most common mechanisms for lawful cross-border transfers include adequacy decisions (where the European Commission has determined a country provides adequate protection), Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) (pre-approved contract terms that importers and exporters can adopt), and Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) (internal policies approved by supervisory authorities for intra-group transfers). Since the invalidation of the Privacy Shield framework in 2020, many US-based companies have relied on SCCs, though the EU-US Data Privacy Framework has since provided a new adequacy-based mechanism for certified US organizations.

Compliance with cross-border transfer requirements isn't just about having the right paperwork. You umust also conduct Transfer Impact Assessments (TIAs) to evaluate whether the legal framework in the destination country provides substantially equivalent protection. If the destination country's surveillance laws or government access practices undermine data protection, supplementary measures may be required, such as encryption where the controller retains exclusive key access. International data flows are the plumbing of modern email marketing-invisible until something breaks, so ensure your transfer mechanisms are watertight.