The Estonian government on Thursday approved an agreement according to which Estonia can establish a data embassy in Luxembourg storing copies of the country's important databases and registers.

According to the bill, an agreement between Estonia and Luxembourg on housing data and information systems is to be approved, the aim of which is to guarantee the digital continuity of Estonia.

The agreement would enable Estonia to estalish the world's first data embassy, in which the state will back up critical data and services outside its territory, provided that immunity has been guaranteed for the data as well as servers in the data center.

The bilateral agreement lays down the countries' obligations and rights which are necessary for the protection of the Republic of Estonia's data and information systems.

The physical location of the servers will remain secret, and only people will have access to them that are cleared by the Estonian state.

As previously reported, aata to be backed up in Luxembourg thus far far covers ten priority databases, including the information system of the Governmental Payments Office (the Estonian treasury), the pensions insurance register, the business register, the population register, the cadaster and and the identity documents database.

A memorandum of understanding between the two countries was signed last year concerning the data center, confirming the necessary political readiness on both sides. The bilateral agreement is planned to be signed in Luxembourg by the two countries' respective prime ministers this month.