Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what processes the Government has in place to (a) monitor the level of protections afforded to UK citizens’ data by Japan and (b) respond to evidence of lower protections in that country than are accepted in the UK.

The UK has preserved the effect of the EU’s adequacy assessment of Japan’s data protection regime on a transitional basis, recognising that Japan offers adequate protection levels for UK citizens’ personal data. This allows personal data to flow freely between the UK and Japan on the basis of strong data protection guarantees.

UK legislation commits the Secretary of State to periodically review decisions taken in respect of the adequacy of other countries, to assess whether they continue to provide an adequate level of personal data protection. Should the Secretary of State consider Japan to no longer provide an adequate level of personal data protection, the Secretary of State could revoke or amend the adequacy decision.