JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Hiromi Hayashi, Daisuke Tsuta, Masaki Yukawa and Keiichi Bando, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
tion that the data can be used only for a certain purpose such as internal marketing analysis and cannot be redistributed or used for unauthor - ised purposes, the data would be protected as shared data with limited access. If shared data with limited access is wrongfully acquired, redis - tributed to third parties or used for unauthorised purposes, the data holder may seek an injunc - tion and damage compensation under the Act. 4. Internet of Things 4.1 Machine-to-Machine Communications, Communications Under the Radio Waves Act (RWA), in princi - ple, users of radio equipment – including IoT devices using radio waves such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi – must obtain a radio station licence from MIC. However, certain smaller-scale radio sta - tions, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, are exempted from such licence requirement if the device conforms to the technical requirements established by MIC and bears a certification mark indicating such conformity (an R-mark). For users to comply with the foregoing require - ments, manufacturers, importers or sellers of those devices apply for the certificate of con - formity and place the certification mark on their products. Radio equipment that has undergone technical conformity certifications conducted by foreign certification bodies based on mutual recognition agreements between Japan and certain foreign countries (currently, the USA, the EU, the UK and Singapore) is deemed to conform to the techni - cal standards established by MIC in Japan and may bear an R-mark without a separate certifica - tion in Japan. Secrecy and Data Protection Internet of Things (IoT) Devices
There is an exemption to the certification require - ment that is available for devices which conform to technical specifications designated by MIC such as IEEE802.11b/11a/11g/11n/11ac/11ad and Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 or later, if solely used for testing purposes. To rely on this exemption, a notification must be filed with MIC stating the start and close of the testing period. The testing period must be 180 days or shorter. Before filing the start notifica - tion, one must ensure that the device complies with at least one of the technical specifications designated by MIC. Under the Telecommunications Business Act (TBA), any telecommunications device which is connected to a telecommunications circuit facil - ity, such as an internet connection provided by a telecommunications business operator, must satisfy certain technical requirements, be certi - fied by a registered certification body, and bear a “T-mark”. However, the guidelines issued by MIC on 22 April 2019 clarified that a Bluetooth device is exempt from the TBA certification requirement if it: • can be used by connecting to a smartphone; • does not have other functions that directly connect to telecommunications circuit facili - ties; and • is certified as complying with the Bluetooth specifications. A similar exemption applies to a Wi-Fi device if: • the Wi-Fi device cannot be directly connected to the internet provided by a telecommunica - tions business operator and is connected to the internet only through a certified router which bears a T-mark; and
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