Learn in the textbookFramework of the Personal Information Protection Act — Regulated Parties and the Definition of Protected Data
DefinitionA Personal Identification Code (個人識別符号) is a code that the law designates as able to identify a specific person on its own, without being combined with a name or similar, and any information containing one is personal information.
ExplanationExamples include face or fingerprint features turned into data for matching, and numbers such as passport numbers and My Number that public systems assign to individuals and the law names one by one. Personal information is information about a living individual, and it covers not only information that reveals who the person is through a name or similar but also information that contains a Personal Identification Code.
Memory hookIt was created by the 2015 amendment, in force from 2017, and clarified the range of information whose status as personal information had been unclear.