[Event Information]
GSDM 9th Platform Seminar
International Symposium on Cross-border Data Flow
12th Mar.2014 (Koshiba Hall, Hongo Campus)

Outline

As part of the current Japanese Abe administration’s efforts to stimulate the Japanese economy, the current privacy law, the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), is scheduled for revision in the next regular Diet session starting in January 2015. The new law is expected to provide more flexibility for conducting big data business than is currently the case.

Key issues for the revision include (1) a new framework for cross-border data flow, (2) a new category of “pseudonymous data”, besides personally identifiable information which requires consent of data subject for collecting, processing and sharing with third parties, and (3) a new rule for sensitive personal data (e.g. health record).

Coincidentally there is ongoing privacy reform in Europe. Furthermore, the European Commission recently made 13 recommendations to the U.S. government to improve the functioning of the Safe Harbor scheme after revelations of U.S. large-scale intelligence collection programs. The US government is currently in the midst of reforming its surveillance efforts. One of incentives for the Japanese government to revise the privacy law is to align Japan’s data protection system with systems in other countries and remove blockers against cross-border data flow. In this symposium, first-rate privacy experts get together from the United States, Europe and an international organization, and share the status of their privacy reform. This would help the Japanese government make its new privacy law well harmonized with systems in other countries.