Kojinjyoho Hogohosei (Legal System of Personal Information Protection)

This book provides an overview of Japan’s legal system for personal information protection, describes the characteristics of this system, and discusses the content and significance of the recent revisions to the laws positioned as general laws related to the protection of personal information and the associated enforcement orders. The book also explains how local governments should respond to these revisions to the law.
 
Chapter 1 provides an overview of Japan’s system of protection of personal information and goes on to discuss the reform of the system.
 
Chapter 2 details the 2015 revision of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, which was implemented as a response to the advent of the big data era and globalization of legislation pertaining to the protection of personal information. Section 1 explains the “Guidelines for reviewing the systems related to the utilization of personal data”; Section 2 explains the “General rules for revising the systems related to the utilization of personal data”; and Section 3 examines the significance of and issues relating to positioning the revisions of the same year as actions aimed to achieve a positive sum. Section 4 discusses the revision of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information in the same year; and Section 5 discusses the revision of the Enforcement Order of the same law.
 
Chapter 3 examines the concepts of personal information, anonymized information, and businesses handling personal information.
 
Chapter 4 provides an outline of the Act on Protection of Personal Information that requires compliances from private businesses.
 
Chapter 5 discusses the 2016 revision of the law related to the system designed to protect personal information, implemented by administrative organizations and incorporated administrative agencies, and the associated revisions to government ordinances.
 
Chapter 6 examines the issues encountered by local public entities concerning how they should respond to the 2015 revision of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and the 2016 revision of the system to protect personal information, implemented by the administrative organs and incorporated administrative agencies.
 
Following the publication of this book, there have been major revisions to the legislation on the protection of personal information, in 2021. We have witnessed the abolishment of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative Organs and the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Incorporated Administrative Agencies, etc. After certain corrections were made, the content was incorporated into Chapter 5 of the Act on Protection of Personal Information. Further, the decentralized protection of personal information legislation was reformed and common rules were stipulated in Chapter 5 of the same law regarding personal information held by local public entities and local incorporated administrative agencies. However, in order to understand the significance of and issues relating to the Act on Protection of Personal Information following the 2021 revision, it is essential to understand Japan’s system of legislation on the protection of personal information prior to the revision as well as its significance and associated issues. I hope this book will contribute towards a better understanding of Japan’s legislation on the protection of personal information from this perspective.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2021)