INTRODUCTION
These operational guidelines are for any law enforcement authority or other government authority (the Requesting Authority) making a request to Tencent Cloud Europe B.V. or any other Tencent group company (we, our, us or Tencent Cloud Group Europe) that operates cloud services in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland (Tencent Cloud Europe Services), for disclosure of data about our users of Tencent Cloud Europe Services (a Request).
We respond to Requests made by a Requesting Authority in accordance with these guidelines, subject always to applicable laws and regulations and our internal guidelines.
We provide (access to) user information in response to Requests when legally required to do so. We will scrutinize all requests to make sure they comply with the applicable laws and regulations. Where permitted, relevant or necessary, we may require appropriate legal and/or supporting documentation to be furnished by the Requesting Authority before we can provide the relevant user information requested. Such documents may include a court order, subpoena, search warrant, authorization document(s) and/or other valid legal process, as the case may be.
We may amend this Policy at any time without notice. We encourage you to check back regularly on this page for updates. These guidelines are applicable to Requests from Requesting Authorities only. Nothing in these guidelines shall be used to create any legal obligations or any enforceable rights against Tencent Cloud Group Europe or any other member of the Tencent group.
Disclaimer on Requests for data not held by Tencent Cloud Group Europe: From time to time, we receive Requests for disclosure of data which do not belong to and/or are not held by Tencent Cloud Group Europe but a separate entity. The responsibility is on the Requesting Authority to make the appropriate request(s) to such other entities and/or affiliates as necessary.
WHAT KINDS OF REQUESTS DO WE RESPOND TO?
We respond to the following types of Requests:
Preservation Requests
We accept Requests issued in accordance with applicable laws and regulations from Requesting Authorities to preserve specified records or data, pending the issuance of valid legal process. Please complete this form to make a Preservation Request. If we do not receive formal legal request in accordance with applicable laws and regulations for the preserved information before the end of the preservation period, the preserved information may be deleted when the preservation period expires where permitted by applicable laws and regulations. In addition to the information described below (in "Form of Request"), Preservation Requests must, to the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations, be sent on law enforcement letterhead, signed, and must include a statement with details about steps that are being taken to obtain legal process for the data sought to be preserved. In specific cases, we may need further supporting and/or legal documentation before we can respond to a Preservation Request. All our rights in this regard are fully and expressly reserved.
Emergency Requests
Requests from Requesting Authorities that give us a good faith belief regarding an imminent emergency involving risk of death, serious physical injury to a person or any risk of harm to a child. Please note that we evaluate Emergency Requests on a case-by-case basis in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Where permitted, appropriate and/or necessary, we may require the Requesting Authority to furnish relevant legal and/or supporting documentation confirming their authorization and/or legal basis for making the Request, without unnecessarily jeopardizing or delaying our response(s) to the Requests. Please complete this form to make an Emergency Request.
Legal Process Requests
All other Requests made by a Requesting Authority in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This may include Requests arising from valid search warrants and subpoenas and other valid legal process, or valid Requests made in accordance with applicable mutual legal assistance arrangements and channels. Where permitted, appropriate and/or necessary, we may require the Requesting Authority to furnish relevant legal and/or supporting documentation confirming their authorization and/or legal basis for making the Request. Please complete this form to make a Legal Process Request.
RETAINING AND DISCLOSING OF DATA
FORM OF REQUEST
To the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations, we require that each Request contains the following information, and any other information as required by applicable laws and regulations, in order to process such Request:
the Requesting Authority's identity;
the identity of the specific officer and/or agent of the Requesting Authority responsible for the request (the "Request Contact"), including their rank, badge/identification number and identification documents;
the relevant authorisation document(s) of the specific officer and/or agent of the Requesting Authority, if applicable;
contact details for the Request Contact, including phone number, email address (which must be from the Requesting Authority’s email domain address) and postal address;
a reasonable date that we should respond to the Request by;
if applicable, the IP address, Uniform Resource Locator, or user of the Tencent Cloud Europe Services to which the Request relates, including all known information pertaining to the relevant user - including users’ identification, account details and/or email addresses. This will help us to identify the data subject and/or other information requested;
list and specific type of data being requested;
purpose for which each type of data is to be used in relation to the Request;
why is the requested type of data considered necessary for the purpose; and
the basis of the Request, including the provisions of any laws and/or regulations being relied upon for the Request and, where applicable and/or necessary, details of the nature of the investigation, procedure and/or process being carried out by the Requesting Authority.
Please note that we may be unable to respond to any vague or incomplete Requests.
The form to be used to make an Emergency Request, certifying the truthfulness and correctness of the Request, can be found here.
NOTIFICATION OF OUR USERS
We respect our users’ rights and privacy. We may therefore notify the relevant user about any Requests for their data prior to disclosure, unless we are prohibited from doing so under applicable laws or regulations, by the terms of any legal process (such as a confidentiality order), or where we reasonably believe that such disclosure may create imminent serious danger or risk for us or any third party.
A Requesting Authority that believes that notification would jeopardize a law enforcement investigation should obtain an appropriate legal process that specifically prohibits member notification. It is the Requesting Authority’s responsibility to request that we do not notify a user of your Request because it would jeopardize a law enforcement investigation, including but not limited to providing the appropriate court order or legal process prohibiting such notification. We will carefully consider your Request and our compliance with the same will be subject to applicable laws or regulations. All our rights in this regard are expressly reserved. If your Request draws attention to an ongoing violation of our Terms and Policies, we will – to the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations – take action to prevent further abuse, including actions that may notify the user that we are aware of their misconduct.
MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE TREATY REQUESTS
We respond to requests of an international nature made pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty ("MLAT") and other applicable conventions, treaties, protocols or documents of a similar nature entered into between the Netherlands and other countries. The MLAT and other applicable conventions, treaties, protocols, or documents of a similar nature will usually determine how the Netherlands and these other countries can assist one another in legal matters such as criminal investigations or enforcement proceedings. Through an MLAT or other request, a foreign government can request the Dutch government for assistance in procuring evidence from Tencent Cloud Europe B.V.. If the Dutch government approves the MLAT or other request from the foreign government, and such documentation of approval is provided to us, we will give our best endeavors to render our support in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Also, a Requesting Authority may be able to rely on MLAT or other applicable conventions to request data, not held by Tencent Cloud Group Europe, in the country of the relevant Tencent entity.
REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS
To the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations, we may seek reimbursement of our costs in responding to a Request.
TESTIMONY SUPPORT
We do not provide expert testimony support, except to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations.
WHERE SHOULD REQUESTS BE SENT TO?
All Requests should be sent to the following contact details:
emailed to CloudLE_TCE@tencent.com with the subject "Law Enforcement Agency Disclosure Request".
Please note that:
we may take longer to respond to any Requests not sent to the above contact details;
we will not review correspondences sent by anyone other than Law Enforcement Authorities to the above contact details; and
if we accept any legal processes via the above contact details, such acceptance is for convenience only and does not waive any of our rights or objections, including for lack of proper service or jurisdiction.
QUESTIONS
For general questions regarding these guidelines not related to specific Request(s), please contact us by email at CloudPolicy@tencent.com. Please note this email does not receive service of legal documents and will not be responsive to unrelated enquiries.
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