Japan's new privacy legislation: are you ready?

摘要

On 23 May 2003, the Japanese Diet passed a parcel of five bills dealing with data protection, the first legislation in Japan to address the issue of the treatment of personal data by the private sector. Although some sections relating to offences under the legislation are not yet in effect and a review of the legislation is planned in three years' time, companies that operate in Japan or have subsidiaries that operate in Japan need to start considering the implications of Japan's privacy legislation now.