On her return to Brussels after three days in Japan for a number of meetings to speed up the political and technical dialogue for an adequacy decision on data protection (see EUROPE 11927), the European Commissioner for Justice, Vĕra Jourová, provided her account of the discussions on Monday 18 December.
The Commissioner was clearly optimistic and indicated that she had returned with a “realistic plan" to finalise discussions next year. She explained that ideally, they would have an adequacy decision by May 2018, in an effort to coincide with the entry into force of the economic partnership concluded on 8 December last (see EUROPE 11922).
After highlighting the common points in the two legal systems, she flagged up the differences that still need to be rectified, particularly in the asymmetry between the scope of Japanese legislation on data protection and the general data protection regulation (GDPR) in the EU, which will enter into force on 25 May 2018. Certain sensitive data that can benefit from special treatment in the EU, is not recognised as such in Japanese legislation, particularly data focusing on sexual orientation, explained the Commissioner.
According to the latter, the biggest difficulty in these discussions can be located in the differences of legal traditions that exist in both systems, particularly the current use of “soft law” in Japan and the application of less severe sanctions than those in the EU. On this point, the Commissioner was firm: the EU expects legally binding rules from the Japanese.
Asked about the reasons for her optimism, despite the apparently fundamental differences on certain points, Ms Jourová referred to the strong political determination of the Japanese authorities and political community to finalise the discussions in the agreed deadlines, as well as the high level of confidence shared by both parties. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)