United StatesStored Communications Act, required preservation and disclosure of data held anywhere, and the provider's motion to quash (CLOUD Act)
Also known as CLOUD Act, Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act.
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Obligation class
- Retention, Disclosure
As of .
What it requires
- Applies to a provider of an electronic communication service or a remote computing service, including a provider that stores or processes customers' communications or records for them, once legal process under chapter 121 of title 18 reaches it.
- If you provide an electronic communication service or a remote computing service, comply with the preservation, backup and disclosure obligations of chapter 121 for the contents of a wire or electronic communication and any record or other information about a customer or subscriber within your possession, custody or control, whether the data is located inside or outside the United States.
- To challenge legal process under section 2703 for the contents of a subscriber's communications on the ground that disclosure would create a material risk of violating a qualifying foreign government's laws, file the motion to modify or quash within 14 days after you were served, unless the government agrees to more time or the court allows it on an application made within the 14 days.
- While a motion under section 2703(h) is pending, preserve the information sought; you need not produce it unless the court finds that immediate production is necessary to prevent an adverse result identified in section 2705(a)(2).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
No agency enforces section 2713 by itself: the obligations arise through legal process that a governmental entity issues under chapter 121, and a court decides a provider's motion to modify or quash under section 2703(h).
What this law does
Section 2713 of title 18 requires a provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service to comply with the obligations of chapter 121 to preserve, back up or disclose the contents of a wire or electronic communication and any customer or subscriber record within the provider's possession, custody or control, whether the data is located inside or outside the United States. Public Law 115-141, division V, added section 2713 on .
A provider of electronic communication service to the public or remote computing service that must disclose contents under legal process issued under section 2703 may move to modify or quash the process where it reasonably believes that the customer or subscriber is not a United States person and does not reside in the United States and that disclosure would create a material risk of violating the laws of a qualifying foreign government.
The motion must be filed within 14 days after the provider was served, unless the government agrees or the court extends the deadline on an application made within the 14 days. The court may modify or quash the process only if it finds that disclosure would cause the provider to violate the laws of a qualifying foreign government, that the interests of justice dictate it, and that the customer or subscriber is not a United States person and does not reside in the United States.
While the motion is pending the provider must preserve, but need not produce, the information sought, unless the court finds that immediate production is necessary to prevent an adverse result identified in section 2705(a)(2). A qualifying foreign government is one with which the United States has an executive agreement in force under section 2523 and whose laws give providers similar opportunities to challenge the process.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform, provides telecom services or provides cloud services.