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Relevant Laws

Title:Personal Data Protection Act (2023.05.31)
Article 6     Personal information of medical records, medical treatment, genetic information, sexual life, health examination and criminal records should not be collected, processed or used. However, the following situations are not subject to the limits set in the preceding sentence:
  1. when in accordance with law;
  2. when it is necessary for a government agency to perform its legal duties or for a non- government agency to fulfill its legal obligation, and proper security measures are adopted prior or subsequent to such collection, processing or use;
  3. when the Party has made public such information by himself, or when the information concerned has been publicized legally;
  4. where it is necessary to perform statistical or other academic research, a government agency or an academic research institution collects, processes, or uses personal information for the purpose of medical treatment, public health, or crime prevention. The information may not lead to the identification of a specific person after its processing by the provider, or from the disclosure by the collector;
  5. where it is necessary to assist a government agency in performing its legal duties or a non-government agency in fulfilling its legal obligations, and proper security measures are adopted prior or subsequent to such collection, processing, or use;
  6. where the Party has consented in writing; unless such consent exceeds the necessary scope of the specific purpose; the collection, processing or use merely with the consent of the Party is prohibited by other statutes; or such consent is against the Party’s will.
    Article 8 and Article 9 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the collection, processing, or use of personal information in accordance with the preceding Paragraph; Paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Article 7 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the written consent specified in Item 6 of the preceding Paragraph. The notification should be in written form.
Article 9 Government or non-government agencies shall, before processing or using the personal data collected in accordance with Article 15 or 19 which was not provided by the data subject, inform the data subject of their source of data and other information specified in subparagraphs 1 through 5, paragraph 1 of the preceding article.
The obligation to inform as prescribed in the preceding paragraph may be exempt under any of the following circumstances:
1. under any of the circumstances provided in paragraph 2 of the preceding article;
2. where the personal data has been manifestly made public by the data subject or publicized legally;
3. where it is unable to inform the data subject or his/her legal representative;
4. where it is necessary for statistics gathering or academic research in pursuit of public interests, provided that such data, as processed by the data provider or as disclosed by the data collector, may not lead to the identification of a specific data subject; or
5. where the personal data is collected by mass communication enterprises for the purpose of news reporting for the benefit of public interests.
The obligation to inform as prescribed in paragraph 1 may be performed at the time of the first use of the personal data towards the data subject.
Article 16 Except for the personal data specified under paragraph 1 of Article 6, government agencies shall use personal data only within the necessary scope of their statutory duties and for the specific purpose of collection; the use of personal data for another purpose shall be only on any of the following bases:
1.where it is expressly required by law;
2.where it is necessary for ensuring national security or furthering public interests;
3.where it is to prevent harm to the life, body, freedom, or property of the data subject;
4.where it is to prevent material harm to the rights and interests of others;
5.where it is necessary for statistics gathering or academic research by a government agency or an academic institution for public interests; provided that such data, as processed by the data provider or as disclosed by the data collector, may not lead to the identification of a specific data subject;
6.where it is for the data subject's rights and interests; or
7.where consent has been given by the data subject.
Article 19 Except for the personal data specified under paragraph 1 of Article 6, the collection or processing of personal data by non-government agencies shall be for specific purposes and on one of the following bases:
1. where it is expressly required by law;
2. where there is a contractual or quasi-contractual relationship between the non-government agency and the data subject, and proper security measures have been adopted to ensure the security of the personal data;
3. where the personal data has been manifestly made public by the data subject or publicized legally;
4. where it is necessary for statistics gathering or academic research by an academic institution in pursuit of public interests, provided that such data, as processed by the data provider or as disclosed by the data collector, may not lead to the identification of a specific data subject;
5. where consent has been given by the data subject;
6. where it is necessary for furthering public interests;
7. where the personal data is obtained from publicly available sources unless the data subject has an overriding interest in prohibiting the processing or use of such personal data; or
8. where the rights and interests of the data subject will not be infringed upon.
A data collector or processor shall, on its own initiative or upon the request of the data subject, erase or cease processing or using the personal data when it becomes aware of, or upon being notified by the data subject, that the processing or use of the personal data should be prohibited pursuant to the proviso to subparagraph 7 of the preceding paragraph.
Article 20 Except for the personal data specified in paragraph 1 of Article 6, non-government agencies shall use personal data only within the necessary scope of the specific purpose of collection; the use of personal data for another purpose shall be only on any of the following bases:
1. where it is expressly required by law;
2. where it is necessary for furthering public interests;
3. where it is to prevent harm to the life, body, freedom, or property of the data subject;
4. where it is to prevent material harm to the rights and interests of others;
5. where it is necessary for statistics gathering or academic research by a government agency or an academic institution for public interests; provided that such data, as provided by the data provider or disclosed by the data collector, may not lead to the identification of a specific data subject;
6. where consent has been given by the data subject; or
7. where it is for the data subject's rights and interests.
When a non-government agency uses personal data for marketing purpose pursuant to the preceding paragraph, upon the data subject's objection to such use, the agency shall cease using the data subject's personal data for marketing.
Non-government agencies, when using the data subject’s personal data for marketing purpose for the first time, shall provide the data subject the ways that he/she can object to such use, and the agency shall pay for the fees therefrom.