Google Ireland is set to take over responsibility for providing services to the company's users in the European Economic Area and Switzerland from January 22nd.
The company has begun contacting its users to inform them of the change, which will see Google Ireland become the service provider for consumer services such as Search, Gmail and Maps, moving them from the US-based Google entity. The change will be reflected in Google's general terms of service, in addition to those covering Drive, Play and YouTube.
The Irish subsidiary will also take over responsibility for users’ information, taking on the role of data controller for users in the EEA and Switzerland.
"This means that Google Ireland Limited becomes responsible for responding to requests for its user data, including from EU law enforcement, consistent with Irish law," Anne Rooney, Google Ireland's public policy manager, said in a blog post. "It is also responsible for compliance with applicable privacy laws, including Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)."
Ms Rooney said the move was to facilitate engagement with EU data protection authorities through the GDPR’s “one-stop shop” mechanism.
However, the company said there would be no changes to the functions of products, nor how they collect data or process user data within its services.
