May 17, 2025

The House of Councilors at its plenary session on May 16, with a majority vote, enacted a criminal digital bill which requires companies and third parties to provide electromagnetic data on smartphones and on the Internet. The Japanese Communist Party was opposed to the bill.

With this revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure (a set of relevant laws), investigative authorities will be able to collect large amounts of electronic data without the knowledge of the person in question. If companies and third parties refuse to submit the data, they will be punished.

The JCP has been pointing to the potential risk that investigative authorities may collect, store, and use digital personal information and trade secrets even if these are not related to any criminal action.

The revised laws have no stipulation to put a restriction on the collection and accumulation of information by investigative authorities. Citizens’ right to privacy guaranteed under the Constitution could be at risk of being eroded and taken away.