Japan Lower House OKs Bill to Revise Personal Info Protection Law

Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Tuesday passed a bill to revise the personal information protection law featuring the introduction of fines on malicious businesses that repeatedly commit violations. At a plenary meeting of the Lower House, the bill was approved by a majority vote, with support from the ruling pair of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party, as well as from the opposition Democratic Party for the People. The Centrist Reform Alliance and Sanseito, both opposition parties, voted against the bill. After discussions in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, the bill is expected to be enacted during the current Diet session, which will run through July. The bill includes a provision requiring businesses that repeatedly obtain personal information unlawfully or use it improperly to pay fines equivalent to the earned profit to state coffers. This is intended to prevent the abuse of personal information. Conventionally, businesses have been able to retain profits obtained unlawfully if they ceased violating activities after receiving recommendations or orders from the Personal Information Protection Commission. Meanwhile, in light of concerns from the business community that such measures could discourage corporate data utilization, the bill calls for limiting the application of the fine system to serious cases, such as those involving more than 1,000 victims. In order to respond to intensifying global competition in artificial intelligence development, the bill calls for allowing the acquisition and provision of personal information without the individual’s consent only if it is used solely for statistical purposes. The CRA criticized the bill, saying it does not sufficiently address the risks that personal information may be provided to a wide range of entities, including sole proprietors, and be misused. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]