06/05/2021 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday, 6 May, American tech giant Microsoft pledged to keep all of its European customers’ data stored on its ‘cloud’ services in Europe. This includes the ‘Office 365’ office suite, ‘Dynamics 365’ business application services, and ‘Azure’ services—through which companies can dispense with physical servers. This announcement will come into effect “by the end of next year”, explained Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer. This statement comes at a time when there have been long-standing concerns in Europe about US data legislation. As recently as 20 April, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties adopted a report urging the European Commission to issue clear guidelines on the transfer of personal data to the United States (see EUROPE 12529/2). (TM)