On behalf of the EU, the Belgian Presidency of the Council has signed in January the protocol to include provisions on cross-border data flows in the agreement between the EU and Japan for an Economic Partnership.
The protocol will provide greater legal certainty, ensuring that data flows between the EU and Japan will not be hampered by unjustified data localisation measures, and also ensuring the benefit from the free flow of data according to the EU and Japan’s rules on data protection and the digital economy.

Source: European Council