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Google today announced that it will amend its terms and conditions and privacy policy. The company has designated Ireland as the location of its data services in Europe. In this way, Google helps its customers and itself to better comply with the requirements of the European Privacy Directive General Data Protection Regulation.

The change of policy will apply from 22 January 2019. The company stresses, of course, that this will have no impact on the functions or performance of its services in Europe. For users residing in the European Economic Area or in Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited will simply become the service provider.

Changes to data processing

Currently, the formal provider of Google services within Europe is based at Google’s European headquarters, in Dublin. There, services such as Google Drive, Play, Gmail, Maps and YouTube are offered. In a blog Google states that this change means that all requests for user data will also be handled by the Dublin office, for example by the police.

Work that has to be done to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation will also be done from Dublin. In the blog, Anne Rooney, Public Policy Manager of Google Ireland, writes that this construction was chosen to streamline Google’s policy around the European Union. However, it is important to note that these changes will in no way affect the way our products work, or how we collect or process user data within our services.

Rooney also emphasizes that nothing will change in the settings of Google services. Of course we remain fully committed and want to continue to comply with GDPR with all our services within the European Union. In short: complying with GDPR remains a priority for Google, so that all its customers also comply with the necessary regulations.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.