National News

Bill for national ID numbers clears Diet

音声ダウンロード

The Diet passed a bill May 24 that would assign an identification number to every citizen, in order to improve government management of income, social security and tax information, despite public concerns about the potential for data abuse.

The House of Councilors voted for the bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives earlier in May.

The system, to be introduced in January 2016, will assign a "my number" to each citizen starting around fall 2015 to integrate financial information. This would make it easier to distribute welfare benefits and tax credits to citizens.

Individual ID numbers will be assigned to foreign residents as well, except for short-term visitors. (Kyodo)

国民個人番号制度法案、国会を通過

国民一人一人にID 番号を与え、所得や社会保障、税金情報を政府が効率よく管理できるようにする法案が国会で可決した。しかし、個人情報を悪用される懸念もある。

The Japan Times ST: June 7, 2013