# AWS data residency — region decision tree (2026)

Answer in order. Stop at first terminal node.

```
START: What data class is in scope?
│
├─ EU personal data (GDPR) + contract requires EU-only operations
│   ├─ Need full sovereign operations (EU staff, EU legal entity controls)?
│   │   YES → AWS European Sovereign Cloud (eu-south-2 Brandenburg GA Jan 2026)
│   │   NO  → Standard EU regions (eu-central-1, eu-west-1, …) + DPA + SCC/TIA if US subprocessors
│   │
├─ UK personal data only
│   → eu-west-2 (London) + UK GDPR; not EU GDPR for UK residents post-Brexit
│
├─ US federal / defense
│   → AWS GovCloud (US) or DoD regions per contract; not commercial regions
│
├─ GenAI inference (Bedrock)
│   ├─ Prompt/response must not leave geography?
│   │   YES → Single-region inference OR geographic cross-Region profile (EU/US/APAC/JP/AU)
│   │   NO  → Global profile (higher throughput; data may route outside geography)
│   └─ Model not in your region? → Import custom model or choose supported region pair (see AWS model table)
│
└─ Multi-region DR only (no sovereignty)
    → Primary + DR in same compliance boundary; watch cross-region replication billing
```

## Quick reference — standard EU commercial regions

| Region code | Location | Typical use |
|-------------|----------|-------------|
| eu-central-1 | Frankfurt | DE-centric contracts |
| eu-west-1 | Ireland | Broad EU default |
| eu-west-3 | Paris | FR residency emphasis |
| eu-north-1 | Stockholm | Nordics |
| eu-south-2 | Spain (sovereign cloud) | EU Sovereign Cloud workloads |

## Doc anchors (verify before audit)

- [AWS Regional Data Residency](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/data-residency/)
- [Bedrock geographic cross-Region inference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/geographic-cross-region-inference.html)
- [European Sovereign Cloud FAQ](https://aws.eu/faq)