Certification requirements for privacy policy URLs

Roxana Ungureanu Feb 03, 2023
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Alexa Skills
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It is mandatory to provide a privacy policy for skills that use account linking or collect personal information either through voice or skill permissions. If your skill uses account linking or collects user information but does not provide a valid privacy policy, it will not be published on the Alexa Skill Store.

What should a privacy policy page look like?

If the skill you are planning to submit for certification collects personal information through voice interaction or permission(s) from customers (such as email address, password or physical address) or uses account linking you will need to provide a privacy policy URL in the dedicated field, under the “Distribution” tab on the developer console. 

The purpose of the privacy policy page is to provide more transparency to customers about how the data is collected, stored, and shared.  

Once you submit your skill for review, ensure your privacy policy page meets the following conditions: 

1. When clicked, the privacy policy URL should direct users exactly at the privacy section of your website/ service. For comparison, a privacy policy page that opens up to the home page  of the website and not to the privacy section specifically is not considered valid.

2. The language of the privacy policy page must correspond to (one of) the language(s) of the skill. We do not allow privacy policy pages in a different language than the language(s) of the skill, even if this language is Alexa-supported. For instance, a skill that uses account linking and is submitted in en-GB and de-DE locales should provide a privacy policy that is either in English or in German. For the example cited above, a privacy policy page in Spanish would not be considered valid, even though Spanish is a language supported by Alexa.

3. The content of the privacy policy page should ideally be specific to the skill in question. For example, a privacy policy page that mentions a skill name or company other than the one in question would not be considered valid.

Privacy policy pages are not mandatory for skills that do not collect any personal information. However, if you still want to include a privacy policy in this situation, please abide by the conditions above, since it would still need to be reviewed during the certification process.
 

First steps to a successful Skill certification

Request Customer Contact Information for Use in Your Skill

Review privacy and security requirements

Complete the Privacy & Compliance page

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