Joint press statement by Commissioner Michael McGrath and TEZUKA Satoru, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan

Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath and Chairperson TEZUKA Satoru met in Tokyo today to further advance the strategic collaboration between the EU and Japan in the areas of data protection and data transfers. This partnership is based on the 2019 mutual adequacy arrangement - the first of its kind - which established the world's largest area of free and safe data flows. 

They discussed the significant progress made in the ongoing talks to expand the scope of the EU adequacy decision on Japan to academia and research as well as to the public sector, which is one of the priorities identified at the 30th EU-Japan Summit held in Tokyo on 23 July 2025. In particular, they welcomed the successful conclusion of the talks on academia and research which will bring significant mutual benefits to cooperation in this area. They also decided to further intensify the talks on extending the adequacy decision to the public sector. They concurred on taking stock of progress on this aspect of their joint work by the end of year. 

Finally, the meeting provided an opportunity to reaffirm both sides’ commitment to the promotion of Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT), through initiatives such as adopting mutual adequacy arrangements with third countries, connecting sets of model contractual clauses used in different jurisdictions or promoting the adherence to international instruments such as the OECD “Declaration on Government Access to Personal Data Held by Private Sector Entities”. They stressed the role that the “adequacy network”, launched by the Commission in March 2024, can play in advancing DFFT and look forward to its next meeting.