JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Yoshifumi Onodera, Hiroyuki Tanaka, Naoto Shimamura and Rio Ichii, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
1.3 Special Categories of Personal Data “Special care-required personal information” refers to personal information that requires special care in its handling so as not to cause unfair discrimination, prejudice or other disadvantages to the individual, including information relating to a person’s race, creed, social status, medical history, criminal record, or the fact of having been a victim of a crime. The acquisition of special care-required personal information and the provision of such information to third parties require the prior consent of the data sub - ject, and an opt-out mechanism is not available. Where a leakage or other incident involving personal data containing sensitive personal information has occurred, or where there is a risk of such an incident occurring, the personal information handling business operator is required to report the incident to the PPC and notify the data subject. 1.4 Processing of Personal Data for Research and Development Purposes APPI The APPI recognises the concept of anonymously processed information, which is defined as informa - tion obtained by processing personal information such that ordinary people cannot identify a specific data subject using the processed information or restore any personal information from the processed information (Article 2.6). This framework intends to promote the use of anonymously processed information by clarify - ing the rules and was expected to lead to the use of big data, innovations and new businesses. Handling operators can provide anonymously processed infor - mation to third parties without the consent of the data subjects, provided that the handling operator: • produces the anonymously processed information in compliance with the standards set forth in the PPC Ordinance (Article 43.1); • takes measures for security control in compliance with the standards set forth in the PPC Ordinance to prevent leakage (Article 43.2); • discloses information that will be included in the anonymously processed information pursuant to the PPC Ordinance (Article 43.3);
Most handling operators typically comply by using internal and external privacy policies. The PPC Guidelines also recommend being transpar - ent in disclosing the entrustment of work involving personal data (eg, disclosing whether entrustment has been made and what kind of work has been entrust- ed). Data Subjects’ Rights Data subjects may request handling operators to dis - close their retained personal data and the record of its provision to third parties. Handling operators must comply with these requests unless there is a possibil - ity that the disclosure could harm the data subject’s or a third party’s life, body, property or other rights or interests, or that it could seriously interfere with the handling operator’s business (Article 33). Data subjects may also request handling operators to correct, add or delete retained personal data. The handling operator must investigate without delay and, based on the results of the investigation, comply with these requests to the extent necessary to achieve the purposes of use of the retained personal data (Article 34). Furthermore, data subjects may request that handling operators discontinue the use of or erase retained per - sonal data and stop providing retained personal data to third parties if: • the data was or is being acquired, processed or provided to a third party in violation of the APPI; • the retention of retained personal data has become unnecessary; • a data breach has occurred regarding the retained personal data; or • there is a possibility that the handling of the retained personal data would harm the rights or legitimate interests of the data subjects. However, this obligation will not apply if it will be too costly or difficult to discontinue the use of or erase the retained personal data and the handling operator takes necessary alternative measures to protect the rights and interests of the data subjects (Article 35).
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