Act on the Protection of Personal Information

If an employee or former employee of an administrative entity, a person engaged in or formerly engaged in duties prescribed in the items of Article 66, paragraph (2) or in entrusted duties under Article 73, paragraph (5) or Article 121, paragraph (3), or a dispatched worker that is or was engaged in handling personal information, pseudonymized personal information or anonymized personal information in an administrative entity provides other persons with a personal information file (including a personal information file all or part of which has been reproduced or processed) relating to Article 60, paragraph (2), item (i) that contains confidential information on individuals without justifiable grounds, that person is subject to imprisonment for not more than three years or to a fine of not more than 1,500,000 yen.

A person who has divulged or misappropriated a secret in violation of the provisions of Article 143 is subject to imprisonment for not more than two years or to a fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen.

If a business handling personal information (or its officer, representative or administrator if it is a corporation (including an organization without legal personality that has made provisions for a representative or manager; the same applies in Article 185, paragraph (1))), its employee, or a person who used to be that business or employee has provided or misappropriated a personal information database or the equivalent (including a personal information database or the equivalent all or part of which has been reproduced or processed) that they handled in the course of their business for the purpose of seeking their own or a third party's illegal profits or of causing damage to the identifiable person or any other person, they are subject to imprisonment for not more than two years or to a fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen.

If a person prescribed in Article 176 provides other persons with or misappropriates personal information an administrative entity holds that the person has acquired in the course of their trade, for their own or a third party's illegal profits or for the purpose of causing damage to the identifiable person or any other person, that person is subject to imprisonment for not more than two years or to a fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen.

If a person has acquired personal information, for the purpose of seeking their own or a third party's illegal profits or for the purpose of causing damage to the identifiable person, a person holding the personal information or any other person, by an act of deceiving, assaulting or intimidating a person, or by theft of or damage to property, intrusion into a facility, interception of wire telecommunications, an act of unauthorized computer access (meaning an act of unauthorized computer access prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (4) of the Act on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access (Act No. 128 of 1999)) or any other act that harms the control of a person holding personal information, the person who has committed the violation is subject to imprisonment for not more than two years or to a fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph do not preclude the application of the Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907) or any other penal provisions.

If an order for measures is violated, the person who has committed the violation is subject to imprisonment for not more than one year or to a fine of not more than 1,000,000 yen.

An employee of an administrative entity who, by abusing that authority, acquires documents, drawings, or electronic or magnetic records containing confidential information on individuals for exclusive use for any purpose other than that employee's duties, is subject to imprisonment for not more than one year or to a fine of not more than 500,000 yen.

In cases that fall under one of the following items, the person who has committed the violation is subject to a fine of not more than 500,000 yen:

a person failed to submit a report or material under Article 146, paragraph (1); submitted a false report or material; failed to answer a question posed by the staff concerned; gave a false answer to a question; or refused, precluded, or evaded an inspection;

a person failed to submit a report under Article 153, or submitted a false report.

The provisions of Articles 176 through 180 and Article 182 apply to a person who has committed an offense under these provisions (excluding Article 180, paragraph (2)) outside of Japan.

If a representative of a corporation, or an agent, employee or other worker of a corporation or person has committed a violation of the provisions set forth in the following items in relation to the corporation or person's business, in addition to the offender being punished, the corporation is subject to a fine set forth in those items, and the person is subject to a fine set forth in the respective Articles.

Articles 178 and 181: a fine of not more than 100 million yen;

Articles 180 and 183: a fine set forth in the respective Articles.

If the provisions of the preceding paragraph apply to an organization without legal personality, its representative or administrator represents that organization regarding an act of litigation, and the provisions of laws on criminal proceedings in the cases in which a corporation is a defendant or suspect apply mutatis mutandis.

A person falling under one of the following items is subject to a civil fine of not more than 100,000 yen:

a person who has violated the provisions of Article 27, paragraph (8), Article 30, paragraph (2) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 31, paragraph (3)) or Article 56;

a person who has failed to submit a notification or submitted a false notification under Article 51, paragraph (1);

a person who has had personal information an administrative entity holds disclosed based on a decision to disclose as prescribed in Article 85, paragraph (3) by deception or other wrongful means.