For Every European Workload on AWS

GDPR Data Residency on AWS European Regions

Architect GDPR-aligned AWS workloads with EU-region data residency, KMS encryption, and audit trails. From eu-west-1 (Ireland) to eu-central-1 (Frankfurt), we'll pick the right region for your workload.

Book Free GDPR Review →Download Region Guide

EU 2016/679In Force

Where your data physically lives matters again.

EU AWS Regions

72h

Breach Notify

Max Fine

€20M

or annual turnover

Schrems II ended the era of casual transatlantic data flows. EU-region architecture is the simplest answer.— EU General Data Protection Regulation

In force since

25 May 2018

The Problem We Solve

Your DPA promises EU residency. Does your architecture deliver?

01, ENFORCEMENT

Our customers' DPAs require EU-only data processing. We're not sure our AWS setup actually enforces that.

Bucket policies, KMS region locks, and CloudFront geo-restrictions need explicit configuration. Defaults often allow non-EU data flows.

02, POST-SCHREMS II

Schrems II changed our risk posture and we haven't reviewed our cross-border transfers.

Standard contractual clauses now require Transfer Impact Assessments. Many AWS customers haven't documented theirs.

03, ARTICLE 32 EVIDENCE

We need documented evidence of GDPR Article 32 controls for procurement teams.

Enterprise procurement and DPO offices increasingly demand specific control documentation, not generic AWS attestations.

What You'll Get

EU-only data residency on AWS, enforced, documented, defensible.

Stream A · Assessment

Scope of Work

AWS region inventory and data flow mapping
Schrems II Transfer Impact Assessment
GDPR Article 32 controls audit
Cross-border transfer review (CDN, logs, metadata)
DPA / SCC alignment with technical reality

Stream B · Deliverables

Deliverables

EU-only AWS reference architecture
Region-lock policies (S3, KMS, RDS, Lambda)
Schrems II Transfer Impact Assessment doc
GDPR Article 32 controls evidence pack
Customer-facing DPA technical addendum
DPO briefing pack

Stream C · Timeline

Timeline

Assessment: 2 weeks
Implementation: 4–8 weeks (depends on existing footprint)
Region migration support if needed
Annual review option
Founder + AWS-certified engineer throughout
Compatible with existing ISO 27001 evidence

Mini Case Study

How a HealthTech startup achieved EU-only architecture in 5 weeks

A French digital health startup processing GDPR special-category data (Article 9) needed to demonstrate technically-enforced EU-only data flows to pass HDS hosting certification and a major hospital procurement audit. Their existing AWS setup used eu-west-1 but had unaudited dependencies on global services.

We mapped every data flow, identified 7 places where data could leave the EU (CloudFront edge cache, Lambda@Edge, Bedrock model invocations, third-party SaaS webhook destinations, log aggregation, metric collection, and a misconfigured S3 cross-region replication). We rebuilt each one as EU-only or replaced it.

The implementation took 5 weeks. The customer passed their HDS audit and the hospital procurement review in the same quarter. The DPA technical addendum we produced is now reusable across all their hospital customers.

Our previous DPO consultant told us 'just pick eu-west-1.' HAZERCLOUD showed us where eu-west-1 wasn't actually enough.— CTO · French HealthTech (anonymized)

Outcomes

Cross-EU leaks closed7/7

Engagement duration5 wks

HDS auditPassed

Hospital audits passed3

Region usedeu-west-3

Read the full case study

Engagement Options

Predictable. Documented. Audit-ready.

Most engagements start with the assessment to map every data flow. Implementation reflects only what your specific environment needs.

Stage 01

GDPR-AWS Assessment

AWS region inventory + data flow map
Schrems II Transfer Impact Assessment
GDPR Article 32 controls audit
Gap analysis with prioritized remediation
Customer-facing DPA technical addendum

Start with assessment →

Stage 02

GDPR Implementation

EU-only AWS reference architecture
Technical region-lock enforcement
KMS, S3, VPC endpoint configuration
Article 32 evidence framework in Audit Manager
Annual GDPR refresh option
DPO briefing + handover

Book scoping call →

FAQ

GDPR-AWS questions every European founder asks.

Schrems II? Region selection? AI Act overlap? Book a call and we'll work through your specific data flows.

Book Free GDPR Review →

What's the difference between AWS Ireland and Frankfurt for a UK company post-Brexit?+

AWS Ireland (eu-west-1) is in the EU; AWS London (eu-west-2) is in the UK. Post-Brexit, UK→EU transfers rely on the EU-UK adequacy decision (under review). For UK companies serving EU customers, AWS Ireland keeps data flows internal to the EU, simplifying GDPR posture. AWS Frankfurt (eu-central-1) is similar but with stricter German data sovereignty culture and BaFin alignment.

How do we prevent metadata or logs from leaving the EU?+

CloudWatch logs are region-bound by default but cross-region log destinations need explicit policy denial. CloudFront, Route 53, and IAM are global services with metadata implications. We configure VPC endpoints, denial-by-default IAM policies, and S3 bucket policies that block any non-EU principal, making leakage architecturally impossible rather than relying on convention.

Is using AWS Bedrock GDPR-compliant for AI workloads?+

Bedrock model invocations stay in the region you call them from. The challenge is logging, by default, prompts and responses route through AWS service operations. We configure private API endpoints, customer-managed KMS keys, and disable cross-region service operations to keep model interaction GDPR-compliant. The EU AI Act adds further documentation obligations.

What about AWS Global Services like CloudFront and Route 53?+

Global services are the trickiest part of GDPR-AWS architecture. CloudFront caches edge data globally by default, we use European-only price classes and cache invalidation policies to constrain this. Route 53 healthchecks and DNS queries are inherently global; we document them in the Transfer Impact Assessment as legitimate operational metadata under Article 6(1)(f).

Do we need a Data Processing Agreement directly with AWS?+

Yes. AWS publishes their GDPR DPA via AWS Artifact, signed by Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL (their EU entity, headquartered in Luxembourg). Your DPO should review and accept this; we provide an annotated copy showing exactly which AWS services and which AWS regions the DPA covers.

How does Schrems II affect our use of AWS?+

Schrems II requires you to assess whether your data, even in EU regions, could be subject to non-EU government access. AWS has implemented technical and organizational measures (CLOUD Act assessments, transparency reports) that our Transfer Impact Assessment template references. For most workloads, EU-region AWS with proper encryption is defensible; for special-category healthcare or government data, sovereign cloud options or HSM-managed keys may be required.

Jobin Joseph

Founder & CTO

AWS SA ProDevOps ProSecurity+2

Verify on Credly ↗

Who You'll Actually Work With

This engagement runs through me, personally.

The AWS-certified specialist on your discovery call leads the implementation team on your engagement. No bait-and-switch. No junior-led delivery.

Discovery call: I attend, no exceptions

Architecture sign-off: before any work begins

Weekly review: I'm on every call, every week

Material decisions: go through me first

Deliverable sign-off: my signature, my reputation

30 days post-handoff: direct line to me

GDPR

Ready for technically-enforced EU residency?

30 minutes with our founder. One data flow gap mapped.

We'll review your AWS architecture, identify the most likely place data is leaking outside the EU, and tell you exactly what region-lock or policy will close it. No sales pressure, no DPO theatre, just a specific recommendation.

Book Free GDPR Review →Download Region Guide (PDF)

★ AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner · ISO 27001:2022 · ISO 9001:2015 · 5× AWS-Certified Founder