PaymentsKlarna and the GDPR: agreement, role and data location.
Klarna is a payments tool. Its role depends on the activity, it explains how to get its data processing agreement, and the data location depends on your account. Below: what to check and how to declare it.
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In short
- Category
- Payments
- Usual role
- Depends on the activity
- Data location
- Set per account or project
- Agreement
- Obtained through the vendor
What does Klarna do with personal data?
Manage customer payments, subscriptions where applicable, invoicing and billing. That is how Privacyboard describes a typical use of Klarna, as a starting point you can edit.
The data usually involved: names, email addresses, account identifiers, payment details, postal addresses, contract & billing data
Is Klarna a processor or a controller?
Klarna processes your customers' data under its own privacy notice to assess and provide credit and payments, so it usually acts as an independent controller. Check your agreement, then choose the role that fits.
Privacyboard does not prefill a role for this vendor on purpose. You are asked to choose, since the answer changes what your privacy policy says and which agreement matters.
Where does Klarna store personal data?
Klarna does not have one fixed location for every customer. The location depends on the plan, the account and the services you enable.
How to find yours: Check the provider’s privacy center or data processing terms.
Even when the main location is in the EU, ask whether subprocessors or support access involve a transfer outside the EEA, and record it if so.
Which legal basis usually applies to Klarna?
For the usual use of Klarna, companies most often rely on performance of a contract and legal obligation (GDPR Article 6(1)). Taking payment is part of the contract, and invoices must be kept as accounting and tax law requires.
Many payment providers also act as independent controllers for fraud prevention and legal checks, on their own basis.
This is a starting point, not legal advice: the basis belongs to your activity, and you confirm it in your register.
Does Klarna have a data processing agreement?
Checked on 12 November 2026. Vendors change their pages, so check the date.
Klarna does not publish the full text of its data processing agreement on a public page. The reference page explains how a customer gets or signs it, usually from inside the account. Article 28 of the GDPR still requires a written contract, so get it and keep a copy.
What we noted when we opened the page: Klarna docs, legal and privacy for merchants: personal data shared with Klarna is processed under Klarna's own privacy notice; merchants must explain the sharing in their privacy notice (sample wording provided) and respect limits on sharing customer identifying information. No entity, hosting location or transfer tool on the page.
A page that exists does not mean you are covered. Whether the agreement applies to you depends on your plan and on what you accepted, so record the decision yourself in your vendor list.
Open the Klarna reference pageHow to declare Klarna
- 1
In your privacy policy
Name Klarna as a recipient, say what it is used for (manage customer payments, subscriptions where applicable, invoicing and billing) and mention any transfer outside the EEA. Articles 13 and 14 ask you to tell people who receives their data.
- 2
In your vendor list
Add Klarna with its purpose, the data involved, its role, its region and a link to the agreement. Privacyboard prefills all of this, you confirm or correct it.
- 3
In your processing register
Link Klarna to the activities that use it, so each record shows its recipients. Article 30 asks the register to list the categories of recipients.
What to check before relying on Klarna
- Work out whether the provider acts as your processor, as an independent controller, or as both for different activities.
- Say in your privacy policy that payment data is handled by the provider and for what purpose.
- Record the provider as a recipient of customer names, emails and transaction data.
- Check retention rules the provider applies for legal and fraud reasons.
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Questions, answered.
Is Klarna GDPR compliant?
Privacyboard does not certify vendors. Compliance depends on how Klarna is configured and used, on the agreement you have with it and on your own practices. What can be checked is documented here: it explains how to get a data processing agreement, the usual role and the data location. Read the agreement itself before relying on it.
Does Klarna have a DPA?
Klarna does not publish the full text of its data processing agreement on a public page. The reference page explains how a customer gets or signs it, usually from inside the account. Article 28 of the GDPR still requires a written contract, so get it and keep a copy. The reference page is https://docs.klarna.com/klarna-checkout/legal-and-privacy.
Is Klarna a data processor?
It depends on the activity. Klarna processes your customers' data under its own privacy notice to assess and provide credit and payments, so it usually acts as an independent controller. Check your agreement, then choose the role that fits.
Which legal basis applies when I use Klarna?
For the usual use of Klarna, companies most often rely on performance of a contract and legal obligation (GDPR Article 6(1)). Taking payment is part of the contract, and invoices must be kept as accounting and tax law requires. Many payment providers also act as independent controllers for fraud prevention and legal checks, on their own basis.
Where does Klarna store data?
Klarna does not have one fixed location for every customer. The location depends on the plan, the account and the services you enable. How to find yours: Check the provider’s privacy center or data processing terms.
Do I need to mention Klarna in my privacy policy?
Yes, if Klarna handles personal data for you. The GDPR asks you to tell people who receives their data (Articles 13 and 14). Name the vendor or its category, say what it is used for and mention any transfer outside the EEA.
How do I add Klarna to my vendor list?
In Privacyboard, pick Klarna from the catalog. The purpose, the data, the suggested role and a link to its agreement are prefilled, and you confirm each one. Creating a workspace is free.
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Privacyboard is not affiliated with Klarna. Names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to identify the tool. This page summarises public documents as checked on 1 November 2026; it is guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify any vendor.