telecommunication businesses regarding the appointment of chief telecommunications engineers who supervise telecommunication equipment and devices used to provide telecommunications services and, in cases where the service area covers more than one prefecture, to make it compulsory to appoint, as a rule, a chief telecommunications engineer for each prefecture in which telecommunication equipment is located as well as assigning a chief telecommunications engineer to the workplace that directly oversees the telecommunication equipment. Furthermore, as the report indicated it was necessary to organize and publish in a specific and systematic fashion the skills required of chief telecommunications engineers to address the move to IP platforms and to apply this knowledge in personnel training and recruitment, the Ministry released in October 2010 the Standards for Skills of Chief Telecommunications Engineers.

### B. Promotion of a public broadband mobile communication system

Most of our current public communication systems for police, firefighting, and search and rescue used on the sites of disasters are voice-based. To share accurate information about afflicted areas, a means of flexibly and reliably delivering video information is needed.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications submitted an inquiry to the Information and Communications Council in April 2009 concerning technical requirements for a public broadband mobile communication system. Based on the Council's March 2010 report, the Ministry established in August 2010 the necessary regulations in advance of adopting a public broadband mobile communication system.

## (4) Assessments of cryptographic technology security and promotion of stronger ciphers

Use of secure, readily implementable cryptographic technology is imperative to guarantee the security of information, which is essential to network-based social and economic activities. CRYPTOREC, a cryptography assessment project, requested submissions of cryptographic technology, which it evaluated objectively, and then created the e-Government Recommended Ciphers List, which was released in February 2003 and lists cryptographic technologies that were found to be sufficiently secure and implementable.

The CRYPTORE Advisory Committee, which assesses cryptographic technology that will contribute to e-government applications, in FY 2009 requested submissions of cryptographic technology to update the e-Government Recommended Ciphers List. Over FY 2010 and FY 2011, the Committee will be evaluating the submitted ciphers.

### 3. Assurance of electronic data authenticity

## (1) Promotion of electronic signatures and certification services

The Act on Electronic Signatures and Certification Business (Law No. 102 of 2000) went into force in April 2001 to ensure a fluid usage environment for electronic signatures attached to electronic data with the objective of further developing e-commerce and other network-based social and economic activities. The Act stipulated that electronic documents signed with a personal electronic signature have the same legal validity as paper documents signed with a written signature or stamped with a seal and introduced a voluntary accreditation system for designated certification services. As of April 30, 2011, 18 designated certification services had been accredited.

## (2) Promotion of the use of time businesses

The importance of time businesses (time delivery services and time validation services) is rising because they are services that affix timestamps to electronic data to increase the credibility of creation dates, etc. of electronic data that are distributed or stored in e-commerce and similar fields. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has been working actively to promote the use of time businesses, such as establishing and releasing the Time Business Guidelines in November 2004 to permit citizens to use time businesses provided by private operators with confidence. In April 2010, the SG7 recognized a revised draft (submitted by Japan) of the ITR-R recommendation on time traceability guarantees. In response, the Ministry is now working on a revision (for FY 2012) of the technical standards for the time business accreditation system in order to clarify approaches to time deliveries and audits and to address vulnerabilities in the encryption algorithms used in timestamps.

## Section 4

## I mproving the Quality of Citizen’s Lives and the Natural Environment through the Application of ICT

### 1. Regional stimulation using ICT infrastructure

In regional societies facing multiple challenges, such as depopulation, an aging population, and dwindling employment opportunities, we need comprehensive pro-