“Guidebook on Corporate Governance for Privacy in Digital Transformation (DX) ver.1.0” Formulated

1. Background

METI and MIC inaugurated a Study Group on Companies’ Privacy Governance (chair: Dr. Sato Ichiro, Professor, National Institute of Informatics) as a body under the Data Distribution Promotion Working Group (chair: Dr. Morikawa Hiroyuki, Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo) of the IoT Acceleration Consortium, aiming to vitalize transactions involving data across the borders of fields and industries. Since then, the study group held discussions on actions which companies intending to embark on new businesses should take to establish privacy governance.

Bringing together experts having rich knowledge on privacy and data utilization, the study group held discussions on “three requirements to which top management should be committed” and “important matters of privacy governance” based on the shared recognition of: roles which companies should play in the era of Society 5.0, views on privacy, and the importance of companies’ privacy governance. The study groups then compiled the discussion results into a “Guidebook on Corporate Governance for Privacy in Companies Engaging in Digital Transformation (DX) ver.1.0” in July 2020. In response, METI and MIC opened a call for public comments on this guidebook from July 29 to August 12, 2020, and received 60 comments. In light of the discussion results in the past and these comments, the study group changed the title of the guidebook to a “Guidebook on Corporate Governance for Privacy in Digital Transformation (DX) ver.1.0” and also compiled the results of the call.

Against the backdrop of advancing DX across society, this guidebook aims to help companies deploy activities involving privacy and, as a result, enhance not only the value of their products and services but also the economic and social value of the companies themselves.

The meaning of privacy or potential impacts of actions involving privacy will change depending not only on target products and services but also on technological advancement and public concern. METI and MIC will continue to revise the guidebook, appropriately ascertaining social trends.

References

• Guidebook on Corporate Governance for Privacy in Digital Transformation (DX) ver.1.0 (Full text) (in Japanese) (PDF:2,551KB)
• Summary of the Guidebook on Corporate Governance for Privacy in Digital Transformation (DX) ver.1.0 (PDF:451KB)
• Results of the call for public comments and METI’s and MIC’s approaches to the public comments (in Japanese) (PDF:704KB)

Division in Charge

Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau