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53 of 4 June 2025
Act on Promotion of Research and Development, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-related Technology, Japan
Prepared by Shubhank Suman · Last reviewed
CURRENT / FULLY IN FORCE
- Legal character
- National AI statute
- Region
- Asia-Pacific
- Effective
- 1 September 2025
What it covers
Japan's AI Act is a promotion-plus-governance statute. It promotes AI research, development and utilisation while establishing national strategy and government-wide coordination. It emphasises innovation, stakeholder responsibilities, transparency, fairness, safety and international cooperation rather than the EU AI Act's risk tiers, conformity regime and penalty structure. It establishes an AI Strategic Headquarters chaired by the Prime Minister and requires an AI Basic Plan.
Why it matters
It is Japan's current national AI statute and institutional foundation, not merely voluntary guidance.
Refer to it when
Use it for Japan's national AI policy, stakeholder responsibilities, AI Basic Plan, R&D promotion, government coordination, safety, trust and international cooperation.
AI, privacy and cybersecurity relevance
- AI: Very High
- Privacy: High
- Cyber: High
AI
VERY HIGH RELEVANCE
The Act creates Japan's national statutory framework for AI promotion, governance, strategy and institutional coordination.
Privacy
HIGH RELEVANCE
The framework recognises privacy and personal-information risks. Japan's APPI remains the principal personal-information statute, so the AI Act and APPI are complementary.
Cybersecurity
HIGH RELEVANCE
The Act recognises safety, trust, national security, resilience and appropriate utilisation, supplemented by sector cybersecurity frameworks.
Applicability
Responsibilities and policy mechanisms for Japanese government institutions and AI-related stakeholders, including specified foreign activity targeting Japanese businesses or citizens.
Current validity
CURRENT: FULLY IN FORCE SINCE 1 SEPTEMBER 2025.
Read first
Article 1 → Article 2 → Articles 3–10 → Articles 11–17 → Article 18 → Articles 19–28 → AI Basic Plan → Government Guidelines.
Provisions / sections covered
Article 1: Purpose
Establishes comprehensive and systematic promotion of AI research, development and utilisation.
Article 2: Definition
Defines AI-related technology by reference to cognition, inference, judgement and information processing.
Articles 3–10: General framework
Establish basic principles, responsibilities and the foundational governance architecture.
Articles 11–17: Basic measures
Cover research, development, utilisation, standards, infrastructure, human resources and related policy.
Article 18: AI Basic Plan
Provides the legal basis for the national AI Basic Plan.
Articles 19–28: AI Strategic Headquarters
Establish the Prime-Minister-chaired headquarters with Cabinet participation.
Subject-matter tags
- Enforcement and penalties
- Transparency
- AI cybersecurity
Subject-matter tags describe what the indexed text discusses. They are not legal conclusions.
Related instruments in this library
Document page in the Knowledge Base - full text or PDF where it is available for this record.
This library locates primary and official sources. It does not interpret the law and it is not legal advice.