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For generative AI services powered by Amazon Bedrock, AWS may process customer content in AWS regions other than the customer's primary region to optimize inference performance, with the specific regions determined by AWS.
This analysis describes what AWS Bedrock's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision authorizes processing of customer content outside the customer's selected AWS region for AI inference workloads, which may engage GDPR Chapter V international transfer restrictions, UK GDPR transfer requirements, and sector-specific data residency obligations depending on the nature of the content and the customer's regulatory environment.
Interpretive note: The provision does not specify which AWS regions may receive content under cross-region inference, making it difficult to assess compliance with specific data transfer restrictions without reviewing service-specific documentation.
The updated terms establish new restrictions on how AWS Capacity Reservations may be used. Specifically, customers purchasing On-Demand Capacity Reservations can no longer resell them to other parties, and AWS reserves the right to cancel the purchase or terminate running instances if the company suspects resale activity. For Capacity Blocks for ML, the grace period before instance termination increased from 30 minutes to 60 minutes for UltraServer instance types, allowing slightly more time to complete workloads. The Amazon Sidewalk qualification program was renamed and simplified, but the underlying security and operational requirements remain in effect.
View change record →The updated terms establish a formal framework for AWS Bedrock's free exploration services, clarifying the operational boundaries and responsibilities. AWS reserves the right to discontinue these services at any time without prior notice, meaning customers cannot rely on their continuation for production planning. Customers are solely responsible for testing, deploying, and maintaining any code, documents, or AI solutions AWS provides, including determining whether those solutions comply with applicable law. AWS retains the right to develop competing products based on content it creates during these engagements, though this does not override existing non-disclosure agreements. Customers are prohibited from requiring AWS personnel to sign additional terms as a condition of receiving free services, and any such documentation signed by AWS personnel is void.
View change record →The updated terms establish new data-sharing mechanisms for users of Anthropic models on Amazon Bedrock. Specifically, AWS now explicitly authorizes notification to Anthropic of metadata present in requests sent to certain Anthropic products (e.g., Claude Code, computer use features), enabling Anthropic to conduct product-level usage attribution. Additionally, the terms introduce AWS WAF AI traffic monetization, which permits AWS to facilitate payment transactions between content publishers and buyers by sharing pricing, payment, and configuration information with payment providers and facilitators; the updated terms clarify that AWS does not provide regulated financial services and is not a party to fund flows, and that users' interactions with payment providers are governed by separate terms between the user and those parties. Users employing these features should review what metadata may be embedded in their requests and understand their own obligations to payment providers.
View change record →The agreement authorizes AWS to route content submitted to generative AI services through AWS regions selected by AWS for performance optimization, meaning customer content may be processed in regions other than those the customer has designated for primary operations.
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"To improve performance, such services may use cross-region inference, using the optimal AWS Region to process your Content when running model inference. See the applicable service documentation for more details.Excerpt from AWS Bedrock's AWS Service Terms
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision directly engages GDPR Chapter V (international transfers of personal data), UK GDPR transfer restrictions, and any applicable sector-specific data residency requirements. Where customer content includes personal data subject to GDPR and is processed in a region outside the EEA not covered by an adequacy decision, the Standard Contractual Clauses incorporated in Section 1.14.3 would need to apply. The European Data Protection Board and national supervisory authorities under GDPR hold enforcement authority. For healthcare and financial services customers, sector-specific regulators may impose additional data localization requirements that this provision may engage. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High for customers subject to GDPR, UK GDPR, FDPA, or sector-specific data residency rules. The provision does not specify which regions may be used for cross-region inference, making it difficult for customers to conduct GDPR Transfer Impact Assessments or confirm compliance with data localization obligations without consulting service-specific documentation referenced in the clause. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and EEA customers are at highest exposure given GDPR Chapter V requirements. UK customers face analogous UK GDPR transfer constraints. Swiss customers subject to the FDPA should evaluate the AWS Swiss Addendum in conjunction with this provision. Healthcare customers in jurisdictions with strict data localization requirements and financial services customers subject to regulatory data sovereignty rules face elevated risk. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Data processing agreements and vendor assessments should be updated to reflect that content submitted to Bedrock-powered generative AI services may be processed outside the customer's primary region. Transfer Impact Assessments may need to be conducted or updated. Customers whose DPAs or customer contracts with their own clients restrict cross-border data transfers should evaluate compatibility before deploying Bedrock-powered services. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Data protection officers should evaluate whether the SCCs incorporated in Section 1.14.3 adequately cover cross-region inference processing scenarios, including identifying which specific AWS regions may receive data under this provision. Customers should review the service-specific documentation referenced in Section 1.24.2 to identify the regions involved and update data flow maps accordingly. Where customer contracts with end clients restrict data processing to specific geographies, those contracts may require amendment or carve-outs before enabling generative AI features.
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This provision authorizes processing of customer content outside the customer's selected AWS region for AI inference workloads, which may engage GDPR Chapter V international transfer restrictions, UK GDPR transfer requirements, and sector-specific data residency obligations depending on the nature of the content and the customer's regulatory environment.
The agreement authorizes AWS to route content submitted to generative AI services through AWS regions selected by AWS for performance optimization, meaning customer content may be processed in regions other than those the customer has designated for primary operations.
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