●Background of Act on the Protection of Personal Information
Computers and the Internet continue to play an ever-increasing role in daily life and work. Meanwhile, there are increased opportunities for the handling of personal information, such as through the use of online shopping
and auction sites by individuals, and management of customer information
and human resources information collected by organizations.
Under the circumstances, incidents involving the leakage of personal information are occurring with great frequency. Individuals whose personal
information is leaked must deal with the threat of having to cope with various issues such as nuisance telemarketing calls, large amounts of direct
mail, and misleading payment notices. In response to these threats, the
Japanese government passed and enacted the “Act on the Protection of
Personal Information” in May 2003.
Increased computerization of society
Spread of Internet
Many incidents of information leakage
Act on the Protection of Personal Information
enacted in May, 2003
●Prohibited acts and penal provisions
The acts outlined below are prohibited under the Act on the Protection of
Personal Information.
• Handling of personal information beyond its intended purpose of use.
• Acquisition of personal information by unauthorized means.
• Failure to notify or publish the purpose of use at the time of acquiring personal information.
• Management that exposes personal information to the risk of leakage, loss,
or damage.
• Failure to supervise the employees of the organization handling personal information or trustees (wherein employees engage in acts such as freely removing personal information to the outside).
• Provision of personal information to a third party without the consent of the
person.
• Failure to act on a request from the person to disclose, correct or stop using
personal information.
• Failure to disclose personal information to the person.
• Failure to act on a request from the person to revise the personal information,
where the request is based on factual inaccuracies in the personal information.
• Failure to cease the use of personal information or provision to a third party,
despite a request from the person.
• Collection of charges that are not within the scope considered reasonable
for the disclosure of personal information.
If a business operator engages in prohibited actions, the competent ministers, which comprise ministers of authorities having jurisdiction over the
business of the organization may demand improvement.
If the violations continue even after an order is issued, the business operator is subject to imprisonment of not more than six months, or a fine of not
more than 300,000 yen.
In addition, if a business operator is asked by a competent minister to file a
report concerning the handling of personal information, and either fails to
file the report of files a false report, the business operator incurs a fine of
not more than 300,000 yen.
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