Act on the Protection of Personal Information, comprehensive regime and lawful basis

Act No. 57 of 2003, as amended by Act No. 37 of 2021, Arts. 15, 20, 25

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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since 1 April 2022.

A comprehensive regime rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 29 August 2026.

What it requires

An app that collects, uses, or discloses the personal data of an individual in Japan must give notice of, or publicly disclose, its purpose of use before or promptly after collection, must not acquire the data by wrongful or deceptive means, and must confine use to the stated purpose unless a statutory exception or the data subject's consent applies.

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

The Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) is Japan's single comprehensive personal-data statute, covering private businesses (Chapter IV), administrative organs (Chapter V), and independent administrative agencies since the 2021 merger amendment folded the former separate acts into one text. Lawful basis is purpose-of-use notice under Art. 15 plus a general prohibition on wrongful acquisition under Art. 20(1); there is no General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-style enumerated legal-basis list.

APPI regulates businesses handling personal information directly rather than a controller and processor split, and Art. 25 imposes supervision duties over any entrusted processor.

When LexLint raises it

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Read the law

official statute text, Japanese Law Translation portal (Ministry of Justice)

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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