On Thursday 13 December in Strasbourg, MEPs approved the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee's resolution assessing the Commission's draft decision on data protection adequacy with Japan by a large majority (516 votes in favour, 26 against and 11 abstentions), subject to "clarifications" from the Commission.
As a reminder, the conclusion of the negotiations between the EU and Japan on the transfer of personal data had been announced at the end of July, just before the signing of the Strategic Partnership and Economic Partnership Agreements in Tokyo (see EUROPE 12064).
MEPs paid particular attention to this, especially as this decision would be the first to be adopted in accordance with the new and stricter rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Overall, the resolution concludes that the Japanese and European data protection systems share a high degree of convergence in terms of principles, guarantees and individual rights, as well as control and enforcement mechanisms.
MEPs also believe that this decision could send a "strong signal" to other countries aligning with the EU's high standards on data protection and that it is all the more important as it could set a precedent for future partnerships.
In doing so, they ask the Commission to provide clarifications on a number of points in order to prove that the Japanese legal framework for data protection guarantees a sufficient level of protection that is substantially equivalent to that of the EU.
In particular, MEPs are concerned that the narrower definition of the term "personal data" in Japanese law cannot be considered as “substantially equivalent" to the provisions of the GDPR.
They are also concerned about decision-making and automated profiling, for which Japanese law does not seem to provide solid fundamental guarantees. This is particularly relevant in light of the recent profiling cases in the 'Cambridge Analytica' case, they say.
MEPs also expressed their concern about Japanese monitoring facilities and asked the Commission to provide more information on this subject.
The European Commission and the Japanese authorities have undertaken to complete the internal procedures necessary for the formal adoption of the adequacy statement by the end of the year. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)