Compliance Node Overview
Japan's national digital identity is governed by the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures (the My Number Act, Act No. 27 of 2013). The Act establishes the 12-digit Individual Number (My Number), the Individual Number Card (My Number Card) with an embedded integrated-circuit chip, and the Japan Public Key Infrastructure for Individual Numbers (JPKI) used for electronic signing and authentication. The Digital Agency is the lead administering agency from September 2021 onwards, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications coordinating municipal issuance. Use of the My Number is restricted by Article 9 to social security, tax, and disaster response purposes, with penalties for unauthorised collection or disclosure under Articles 48 to 53. The My Number Card carries two public key infrastructure certificates: a user certificate for signing and a user certificate for authentication. Article 67 to Article 75 govern the issuance and management of these JPKI certificates. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC) supervises personal information protection in respect of Specific Personal Information (i.e., personal information that includes a My Number) and may issue guidance, recommendations, and orders under the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI). The 2023 amendments expanded the use of the Individual Number to additional administrative areas including driver license integration and migrant resident registration. The Mobile My Number Card service supports My Number Card functions on smartphone devices for select Android handsets from 2023 and iPhone from 2025.
Pillar: Cybersecurity · Authority: Digital Agency (Japan) and Personal Information Protection Commission · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://www.digital.go.jp/en/policies/mynumber
SHA-256 integrity: 53a791a9fd1ae0f357a04211a190b36032e20b13ccad60d934a5dbb6bef90608
Primary Citations — 6 traced to source
- My Number Act (Act No. 27 of 2013, Japan) - establishes the Individual Number, the Individual Number Card, and the framework for use of the Individual Number in administrative procedures.
- My Number Act - the Individual Number may be used only for affairs relating to social security, tax, and disaster response as prescribed by laws or local government ordinances.
+ 4 more citations (full bibliography, deterministic workflow, actionable schema and crosswalks) included in the vault unlock — $0.01 via Skyfire / L402 / Direct Base USDC.
Access