Vice-President Jourová met with Chairperson Fujiwara to discuss EU-Japan cooperation on safe data flows

Today, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová met with Shizuo Fujiwara, Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan, in Brussels. 

The meeting reaffirmed the strong partnership between Japan and the EU in data protection and data flows. The EU-Japan mutual adequacy arrangement, effective since January 2019, established the world's largest area for the safe and free flow of personal data. Today, it continues to provide a unique basis to further strengthening this cooperation. 

Following the successful evaluation of the mutual adequacy arrangement in April 2023, both sides acknowledged the progress in expanding the EU's adequacy decision for Japan to also cover data flows to academia and the public sector. Both sides agreed to accelerate the work with a view of concluding these talks as soon as possible. 

Additionally, they committed to continue working together at international level to promote high data protection standards, specifically through further developing the network of like-minded countries benefiting from an adequacy decision, following the initiative launched by the Commission in March 2024. Such cooperation is essential for facilitating data flows, including through the operationalisation of the concept of ‘Data Free Flow with Trust’ in the area of privacy in the framework of the OECD. A joint statement is available here.