JapanAct on the Protection of Personal Information, Specific Biometric Personal Information
Act No. 57 of 2003, as amended by Act No. 56 of 2026, Arts. 16(5), 21-2, 27(2), 35(7)-(8)
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A biometric privacy rule binding private bodies.
As of 23 September 2026.
What it requires
- This duty is enacted but not yet in force; it takes effect on a day fixed by Cabinet Order no later than 16 July 2028.
- An app that handles a data subject's Specific Biometric Personal Information, an individual identification code converted from a bodily feature obtainable without special technology or great expense and of a kind the data subject cannot easily recognize is being captured, must, except in specified cases, notify the data subject in advance or place the purpose of use where the data subject can readily learn it; may not provide it to a third party under the ordinary opt-out mechanism; and must, on the data subject's request, cease using it or stop providing it to a third party without delay, unless a specified exception 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.
A new Specific Biometric Personal Information category (Art. 16(5)) covers an individual identification code converted from a bodily feature that is obtainable without special technology or great expense and that a Cabinet Order specifies as one the data subject cannot easily recognize is being captured, aimed at facial-recognition data captured passively.
A business handling it must give advance purpose-of-use notice (Art. 21-2), may not rely on the ordinary opt-out mechanism to provide it to a third party (Art. 27(2)), and must honor a data subject's request to stop using it or providing it to a third party even absent any illegality (Art. 35(7)-(8)), a use-cessation right the current Act's individual identification code category does not carry. The Cabinet Order fixing which bodily features qualify has not yet issued, and this duty has not yet commenced.
When LexLint raises it
processes_biometrics
Read the law
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