countries through overseas development assistance in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

## Section 8

## Development of Postal Service Administration

### 1. Promotion of postal service administration

Japan started the privatization of its postal services in October 2007, and what had previously been a single company was divided into five separate companies. It has become apparent that this and other changes have led to a weakening of the postal service administration's operational foundations and a decline in the ability to offer the public convenient services.

In December 2009, a law was passed and enacted to freeze the sale of government-held shares in Japan Post Holdings and its banking and insurance units, and in April 2010, a postal reform bill formulated by the Cabinet was placed before the 174th Ordinary Session of the Diet that would reorganize the five-company Japan Post group into three companies and that set forth assurances that the new Japan Post Holdings would be responsible for providing universal postal, banking, and insurance services. The bill was rejected. The same bill was formulated again by the Cabinet in October 2010 and submitted to the 176th Extraordinary Session of the Diet, and debate on the bill continues at the 177th Ordinary Session of the Diet.

### 2. Outline of the correspondence delivery system

The Law Concerning Correspondence Delivery Provided by Private-Sector Operators paved the way for private enterprises to enter the correspondence delivery business, which had been monopolized by the state.

Correspondence delivery falls into two categories: general correspondence delivery and special correspondence delivery. Since the law went into force in April 2003, 346 operators have entered the special correspondence delivery business as of March 31, 2011, although there have been no entrants in the general correspondence delivery business.

### 3. Promotion of new postal service administration

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications established the Investigation Study Group for Reviewing Postal and Mail Delivery Services in February 2007 with the aim of reviewing the overall system for postal and mail delivery services after postal service privatization. The Study Group compiled its interim report in November 2007 and its final report in July 2008.

The final report recommended an ideal future system to be realized over the medium-to-long term — a system in which participating business operators are able to provide services using their own originality and ingenuity — and a new Postal Service Law that would integrate the Postal Law and Correspondence Delivery Law into a single law. In addition, the report recommended that urgent consideration be given to the scope and standards for universal postal service and new policies to ensure universality, along with the utilization of postal networks and the expansion of the correspondence delivery business's scope.

Regarding the promotion of personal information protection, the Ministry held meetings of the Study Group on Protection of Personal Information in the Correspondence Delivery Service Field and the Study Group on Protection of Personal Information in the Postal Service Field between December 2006 and November 2007. Based on the findings of the two study groups, the Ministry formulated and announced two guidelines in March 2008: the Guidelines for Personal Information Protection in the Correspondence Delivery Service Field and the Guidelines for Personal Information Protection in the Postal Service Field.