Japan adopts amendment to its DP Act

Japan’s Diet has today, 3 September, amended the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. The amended Act will establish a “Personal Information Protection Commission” as of 1 January 2016.

The amendment was due to be passed in the summer but was delayed because of a data breach incident involving pension records. The Bill was adopted as proposed by the government. It includes some restrictions concerning overseas transfers of personal data and imposes restrictions on the processing of sensitive information. Importantly, the amendment also clarifies anonymisation of personal information which has an impact on ‘Big Data’ processing as companies would be able to use such data without individuals’ consent.

Full analysis of the amended law by Professor Hiroshi Miyashita will be published in PL&B International Report, October 2015. Several aspects of the draft Bill were analysed in the July issue by Professor Graham Greenleaf. To subscribe, go to www.privacylaws.com/Subscribe/