Administration Management Bureau of the Management and Coordination Agency is as follows:
"By legally clarifying the duty of local governments to take into consideration the policies of the national government and to make an effort to take and implement measures for the protection of personal data Article 26 aims to ensure that measures for the protection of personal data are implemented by local governments too."
In addition, there is the following explanation:
"Measures to protect personal data aim to protect the rights and ingress of citizens. As the difference between national government measures and local government measures may invite confusion among citizens and administrations, it is desirable to ensure the conformity of the basic items of the measures. On the other hand, as the actual state of the organization and business operations of national and local governments differ and there are also special regional circumstances, it is not appropriate for local governments to refuse to take independent measures accordingly" It goes on: "This Article stipulates that it is necessary to [take into consideration national policies based on the provision of this Law], and local governments shall follow the policies of the national government based on this Law in accordance with the actual state of the region, or shall take independent measures for the protection of personal data with reference to national policies."
From the viewpoint of the rights and interests of citizens, measures to protect personal data held by administrative agencies do not restrict the rights and interests of citizens, but grant rights and interests to citizens. As a result, this Article does not prohibit local governments from taking and implementing measures suitable to the special circumstances of the local government concerned, after taking into consideration conformity with the measures taken by the national government with regard to basic items.
The explanation continues: "It is necessary to take measures to ensure appropriate handling of personal data. Measures for the protection of personal data aim to protect the rights and interests of personal data such as stipulated in this Law. It is desirable that the necessary measures are established as regulations in each local government. The national government has enacted
