Act on the Protection of Personal Information

If a request for disclosure is filed, unless any of the information listed in each of the following items (hereinafter referred to as "non-disclosure information" in this Section) is recorded in the personal information the administrative entity holds which is subject to the request for disclosure, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must disclose that information to the person requesting disclosure:

information that is likely to cause harm to the life, wellbeing, livelihood or property of the person requesting disclosure (or of the identifiable person, if an agent makes a request for disclosure on behalf of that person pursuant to Article 76, paragraph (2); the same applies in the following item and item (iii) of this Article, paragraph (2) of the following Article, and Article 86, paragraph (1));

Information concerning an individual other than the person requesting disclosure (excluding information concerning the business conducted by an individual) by which a specific individual other than the person requesting disclosure is identifiable from a name, date of birth or other identifiers or their equivalent contained in that information (including cases in which it is possible to identify a specific individual other than the person requesting disclosure through comparing that information with other information); which contains an individual identification code; or whose disclosure is likely to cause harm to the rights and interests of an individual other than the person requesting disclosure, if it is not possible to identify a specific individual other than the person requesting disclosure; provided, however, that the following information is excluded;

information that can be made available to or is scheduled to be made available to the person requesting disclosure pursuant to the provisions of laws and regulations or by established practice;

information which is found necessary to be disclosed in order to protect a person's life, wellbeing, livelihood or property;

the part of the relevant information relating to the job of a public officer or similar employee (meaning a national public officer prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the National Public Officer Act (Act No. 120 of 1947) (excluding employees of an agency engaged in administrative execution prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (4) of the Act on General Rules for Incorporated Administrative Agency), employee of an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, local public officer prescribed in Article 2 of the Local Public Officer Act (Act No. 261 of 1950), or employee of a local incorporated administrative agency) and the substance of the performance of their duties, if the relevant individual is a public officer, and that information relates to the performance of the duties;

the following information concerning corporations or other entities (excluding the State, incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, local public entity, and local incorporated administrative agency; hereinafter referred to as a "corporation or similar entity" in this item) or concerning the business that an individual other than the person requesting disclosure conducts; provided, however, that information which is found necessary to be disclosed in order to protect a person's life, wellbeing, livelihood, or property is excluded;

information whose disclosure is likely to cause harm to the rights, competitive position, or other legitimate interests of the relevant corporation or similar entity or of the relevant individual;

information customarily not disclosed by the corporation or similar entity or by the relevant individual, which has been voluntarily provided in response to a request by an administrative entity on the condition of non-disclosure, or information for which it is found reasonable to set that condition in light of the nature of the information or the circumstances at the time;

information for which there are reasonable grounds for the head of an administrative organ to find that its disclosure is likely to cause harm to national security, cause damage to the relationship of mutual trust with another country or an international organization, or cause a disadvantage in negotiations with another country or an international organization, if the head of the administrative organ makes a decision set forth in each paragraph of Article 82 (hereinafter referred to as a "decision on disclosure" in this Section);

information for which there are reasonable grounds for the head of an administrative organ or the local government organ (limited to a prefectural government agency) to find that its disclosure is likely to hinder prevention, suppression or the investigation of crimes, keeping prosecutions, the execution of punishment, and other matters concerning upholding public safety and public order, if the head of the administrative organ or the local government organ makes a decision on disclosure;

information concerning deliberations, examinations or consultations conducted in a national government organ, incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, local government and local incorporated administrative agency, or conducted mutually between them, if its disclosure is likely to cause unjust harm to the frank exchange of opinions or the neutrality of decision making, unreasonably cause confusion among the people, or unjustly bring advantages or disadvantages to specific persons;

information concerning the processes or service conducted by a national government organ, an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, a local government, or a local incorporated administrative agency, if its disclosure is likely to have the following risks or is likely to hinder the proper execution of the processes or service due to their nature;

risk of causing harm to national security, damage to the relationship of mutual trust with another country or an international organization, or a disadvantage in negotiations with another country or an international organization, if an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, a local government organ, or a local incorporated administrative agency make a decision on disclosure;

risk of hindering prevention, suppression or the investigation of crimes, keeping prosecutions, the execution of punishment, and other matters concerning upholding public safety and public order, if an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, a local government organ (excluding a prefectural government agency), or a local incorporated administrative agency make a decision on disclosure;

risk of making it difficult to accurately understand facts concerning processes relating to audits, inspections, supervision, examinations, or the imposition or collection of tax; facilitating illegal or wrongful acts regarding those processes; or making it difficult to detect those acts;

risk of causing unjust damage to the property benefit, or the position as an interested party, of the State, an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, a local government, or a local incorporated administrative agency concerning processes relating to contracts, negotiations, or administrative appeals and litigation;

risk of causing unjust hindrance to the fair and efficient execution of processes relating to research and study;

risk of causing hindrance to keeping impartial and smooth personnel practices in processes relating to personnel management;

risk of causing damage to the legitimate interests arising from corporate management with regard to the service of an incorporated administrative agency or other prescribed corporation, of a business operated by a local government, or of a local incorporated administrative agency.

With regard to applying the provision of the preceding paragraph related to a local government organ or a local incorporated administrative agency, the phrase "information listed in each of the following items (" in that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "information listed in each of the following items (excluding information prescribed by local ordinance as information that is to be disclosed pursuant to the provisions of the information disclosure ordinance) or information equivalent to non-disclosure information prescribed in Article 5 of the Administrative Organs Information Disclosure Act, which is not disclosed in the information disclosure ordinance, and which is prescribed by the ordinance as information that needs to be non-disclosed in order to ensure consistency with that information disclosure ordinance (".

If non-disclosure information is included in personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure, and it is possible to easily separate and exclude the part that constitutes non-disclosure information from the personal information, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must disclose the part from which the part that constitutes non-disclosure information has been excluded to the person requesting disclosure.

If the information set forth in paragraph (1), item (ii) of the preceding Article (limited to information that can be used to identify a specific individual other than the person requesting disclosure) is included in personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure, and it is found that disclosure of the information would not be likely to cause damage to the rights and interests of a person other than the person requesting disclosure if the part in the information that constitutes a name, date of birth, or other identifiers or their equivalent that can be used to identify a specific individual other than the person requesting disclosure, or that constitutes an individual identification code were excluded from that information, the other part in the information from which the part mentioned above has been excluded is deemed not to be included in the information set forth in that item, and the provisions of the preceding paragraph apply to it.

Even if non-disclosure information is included in personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity may disclose the personal information the administrative entity holds to the person requesting disclosure, if they finds it particularly necessary to do so for protecting the individual rights and interests.

If non-disclosure information is supposed to be disclosed by merely answering whether or not personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure exists, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity may refuse the request for disclosure, without making the existence or non-existence of that personal information clear.

When disclosing all or a part of personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must make a decision to that effect, and notify the person requesting disclosure of that decision, the purpose of use of that personal information to be disclosed, and matters specified by Cabinet Order relating to the implementation of disclosure in writing; provided, however, that this does not apply to the purpose of use in cases that fall under Article 62, item (ii) or item (iii).

If an administrative organ's head or administrative entity decides not to disclose any personal information the administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure (this includes the cases in which the administrative organ's head or administrative entity refuses a request for disclosure pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article or does not hold that personal information), the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must notify the person requesting disclosure to that effect in writing.

Decisions on disclosure must be made within thirty days from the date of the request for disclosure; provided, however, that if an amendment is requested pursuant to the provisions of Article 77, paragraph (3), the number of days required for the amendment is not included within that period of time.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if there are justifiable grounds such as difficulties arising from conducting processes, an administrative organ's head or administrative entity may extend the period of time prescribed in that paragraph for up to thirty days. In this case, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must notify the person requesting disclosure in writing of the extended period and the grounds for the extension, without delay.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding Article, if there is a considerably large amount of personal information an administrative entity holds that is subject to a request for disclosure, and there would be a risk that the performance of duties is considerably hindered if a decision on disclosure were made on all of those requests within sixty days from the date of a request for disclosure, it is sufficient for the administrative organ's head or administrative entity to make a decision on disclosure for a reasonable portion of the personal information the administrative entity holds for which disclosure has been requested within that period of time, and to make a decision on disclosure for the remaining personal information within a reasonable period of time. In this case, the administrative organ's head or administrative entity must notify the person requesting disclosure of the following matters in writing within the period of time prescribed in paragraph (1) of that Article:

the application of this Article and the grounds for its application;

due date for making a decision on disclosure for the remaining personal information the administrative entity holds.