Can Azure region CH North be registered for local country regulations

Hello Lefever Bert,

Greetings! Thanks for raising this question in the Q&A forum.

The short answer is that country specific schemes like ACN (Italy), ENS (Spain), and HDS (France) are certifications that Microsoft itself pursues and maintains for specific Azure regions and specific in-scope services. A customer cannot register or self-nominate a region such as Switzerland North for one of these schemes. Only Microsoft, as the cloud provider being audited, can add a region to the scope of a certification, and that requires Microsoft to complete a full audit or qualification process with the relevant national authority.

There is also an important regulatory reason why Switzerland North specifically may never appear in these lists. Schemes like ACN and HDS are built around data residency requirements tied to Italy, Spain, or the broader EU/EEA. Switzerland is part of EFTA, not the EU, and while it is included in the EU Data Boundary for some services, it sits outside the strict EU/EEA scope that several of these national government cloud programs require for qualification. That is likely why you see other European regions listed on ACN's site but not the Swiss region.

Here is how to confirm the current status and how to formally request expansion.

1. Check the authoritative scope statement for each certification

Every Azure compliance offering has an official scope statement that lists the exact regions and services in scope. Do not rely on third party lists, check these directly.

• ACN Italy: Azure compliance offerings home
• ENS Spain: ENS Spain High offering
• HDS France: HDS France offering

2. Review the full Azure compliance documentation index

The Azure compliance documentation page lists every current region specific and country specific certification Microsoft holds, updated as new audits complete. If Switzerland North is not listed under a scheme here, it is not currently in scope.

3. Download the detailed audit reports from Service Trust Portal

If you have an active Azure subscription, sign in to the Service Trust Portal and download the specific audit report or scope statement PDF for ACN, ENS, or HDS. These documents list every in scope Azure region and service explicitly, which is the most reliable way to confirm whether Switzerland North qualifies today.

4. Submit a formal request through your Microsoft account team or Azure Support

Since this is a certification roadmap request rather than a technical support issue, the correct channel is:

• If you have a Microsoft account manager or Cloud Solution Provider, ask them to log a formal request with the Azure Compliance team to evaluate adding Switzerland North to the ACN, ENS, and HDS scope.
• Alternatively, open a support case through the Azure portal under Help + Support, category Subscription and Compliance, so it gets routed to the compliance program owners.

5. Track future updates

Bookmark the What's new in Azure compliance documentation, since newly added regions to a certification scope are published there as audits complete, generally on an annual cycle tied to each scheme's certification renewal window.

This is an administrative process that only Microsoft can act on, and the most productive path is raising it through your account team or a support case referencing the specific certification and region so it reaches the compliance program owners directly.

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Best Regards,

Jerald Felix