Law note · Turkmenistan
Law on Information About Private Life, localization and cross-border transfer
What it requires
- An app storing or processing the personal information of individuals in Turkmenistan, including a voiceprint or other biometric identifier, must maintain a database located within Turkmenistan; only data contained in that domestic database may be transferred abroad at all. Transfer to another country additionally requires that the destination ensure protection of personal information, or one of four fallback grounds: written consent, a ratified treaty, statutory necessity, or protection of vital interests or constitutional rights where consent cannot be obtained.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_modelsdeploys_chatbotprocesses_biometricsprocesses_voice
What we found
Art. 12(2) is an unconditional domestic-storage duty, with no citizen-only qualifier and no sectoral limitation: storage of personal information is carried out in a database of personal information located in the territory of Turkmenistan. Art. 17, read in full, makes the domestic database an explicit precondition for any transfer, not merely an alternative to it: personal information is subject to cross-border transfer only where it is contained in a database located in Turkmenistan.
Transfer to a state ensuring protection is then permitted; where the destination does not, transfer may still occur on written subject consent, a ratified treaty, statutory necessity, or protection of vital interests or constitutional rights where consent cannot be obtained. No enforcement history for either duty was found; secondary reporting describes practical enforcement of this Act generally as essentially nonexistent.