August 31, 2020 Appeal for Opinions on Draft Revision to Explanation of Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has drafted a revision to the Explanation of the Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of 2017 with a final revision as per MIC Notice No. 297 of 2017). This revision has been drafted in response to the promulgation and enforcement of a partial revision to the Ordinance for Specifying Identity Information of the Sender as per Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Restrictions on the Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to Demand Disclosure of Identity Information of the Sender.
Accordingly, MIC will make an appeal for opinions on the draft revision from Tuesday, September 1 through Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

1. Overview

With consideration of the recommendations of the Study Group on Ideal State of Disclosing Sender Information (chaired by SOGABE Masahiro, professor at Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications made a partial revision to the Ordinance for Specifying Identity Information of the Sender as per Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Restrictions on the Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to Demand Disclosure of Identity Information of the Sender. This revision, which has been promulgated and enforced today, adds telephone numbers as a disclosure subject.
In response to the revision, MIC has drafted the revision to the Explanation of the Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of 2017 with a final revision as per MIC Notice No. 297 of 2017).
Accordingly, MIC has decided to make this appeal for opinions on the draft revision from Tuesday, September 1 through Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

2. Subject of appeal for opinions and guidelines therefor

1. Subject

Draft Revision to Explanation of Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of 2017 with a final revision as per MIC Notice No. 297 of 2017) with a comparative table of the prior and amended provisions

2. Submission period

From Thursday, September 1, and no later than Wednesday, September 30, 2020 (Opinions submitted by mail must also arrive no later than the deadline date)
For details, see the linked procedure for the public appeal for opinions.

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  MIC will post reference information on the public comment page of the e-Gov (https://www.e-gov.go.jp/en/ ).

3. Future plans

With consideration of the result of the appeal for opinions, MIC will revise the Explanation of Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of 2017 with a final revision as per MIC Notice No. 297 of 2017).