Personal Information Protection Law in Japan

The Personal Information Protection Act (Law No. 57 of 2003) (hereinafter referred to as "Act"), which was promulgated on May 23, 2003, became fully effective on April 1, 2005, as to the private sector.¹ The Act aims to "protect the rights and interests of individuals while taking consideration of the usefulness of personal information, in view of a remarkable increase in the use of personal information due to development of the advanced information and communications society" (Article 1).

It is very important to note that the Act constitutes only a part of Japan’s privacy regulatory framework. The Act outlines only general requirements and obligations, leaving the details of its regulation and interpretation to the government ministries, which issue administrative guidelines for those business sectors for which they are responsible. The purpose of these ministerial guidelines is twofold: