January 26, 2022 Appeal for Opinions on Draft Revisions to Both Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business and Commentary for the Guidelines

The Working Group on the Handling of User Information for Platform Services (hereafter referred to as the “Working Group”) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has drafted revisions to the Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of September 14, 2009, hereafter referred to as the “Guidelines”) and the Commentary for the Guidelines (hereafter referred to as the “draft revisions”).
Accordingly, MIC has decided to publicly make an appeal for opinions on the draft revisions from Thursday, January 27 through Friday, February 25, 2022.

1. Background of revisions

The Working Group (Chaired by SHISHIDO Joji, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo) has prepared the draft revisions to the Guidelines and the Commentary for the Guidelines based both on consideration on items to be revised in accordance with the enforcement of the amendments to Act on the Protection of Personal Information in 2020 (hereafter referred to as the “2020 Amendment to the APPI”) and the amendments to the same act in 2021 (hereafter referred to as the “2021 Amendment to APPI”), and on study on rules and regulations to ensure the proper handling of telecommunications user information.

2. Outline of draft revisions

The enforcement date of the 2020 Amendment to APPI and the 2021 Amendment to APPI is set to April 1, 2022. Accordingly, the Working Group has reviewed the Guidelines and the Commentary for the Guidelines.

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  The published material is in Japanese only.

3. Subject of appeal for opinions

• Draft revision to the Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (MIC Notice No. 152 of September 14, 2009) (Comparative table of the old and new provisions)
• Draft revision to Commentary forthe Guidelines for Protection of Personal Information in Telecommunications Business (Comparative table of the old and new provisions)

4. Submission period

No later than Friday, February 25, 2022 (Opinions submitted by postal mail must also arrive no later than the same due date.)

5. Procedure for appeal for opinions and submission form

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  The published material is in Japanese only.

6. Future plans

Considering the responses to the appeal for opinions, MIC will promptly revise the Guidelines and the Commentary.