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Compliance Committee of the Information and Communications Technology Strategic Office of the Cabinet Secretariat (1st meeting)

Digital Agency will be the control tower for the formation of digital society, which aims to realize the sustainable and sound development of the Japanese economy and the happy lives of the people. The expectations of the people toward Digital Agency are extremely high, and Digital Agency bears an extremely heavy responsibility.

In order for Digital Agency to fulfill its responsibilities and meet the expectations of the people, all persons working at Digital Agency are required to act creatively and autonomously while fully utilizing their specialized expertise and skills. On the other hand, Digital Agency must never fail the expectations of the people or invite their doubts, such as through illegal or inappropriate administrative processing related to their duties.

On August 27, 2021, the Compliance Committee was established and a meeting was held to obtain the necessary opinions and advice from external lawyers, certified public accountants, etc. regarding compliance in Digital Agency. (Since August is before the establishment of Digital Agency, the name of the meeting is the "Compliance Committee of the Information and Communications Technology (IT) Strategic Office of the Cabinet Secretariat." On September 1, the meeting will be organized as the "Digital Agency Compliance Committee.")

At the remote meeting held on the same day, the results of the survey on procurement by the Integrated System for the Management of Health Information, etc. of Foreign Nationals Entering Japan (so-called Oripara System), which was released on August 20, and the content of the summary of the Study Group on Bidding Restrictions, etc. held on August 25 were reported. Based on these results, active discussions and exchanges of opinions were held on the formulation of Digital Agency's own procurement Rules and Code of Ethics, efforts to improve awareness of the Code, the establishment of a whistle-blower window, and other matters. In addition, the "Digital Agency Basic Policies on Compliance (Draft)" were approved.

The results of the discussions will be fully reflected in the formulation of various norms and rules in Digital Agency.

Overview

  • Date and time: Friday, August 27, 2021 (2021) from 2:15 pm to 3:10 pm
  • Place: Online conference

Committee Members

(Members are listed in the order of the Japanese syllabary, with the honorific titles omitted)

Members

  • Toshiya Natori (Legal Partner, ITN Law Office): Chairman
  • Koichi Endo (former Government CIO)
  • Toru Kajikawa (Representative Partner and Chairman, Taiyo LLC)
  • Jiro KOKURYO (Professor, Faculty of Policy Studies, Keio University)
  • Akihiko Shiba (Attorney at Shiba and Tanaka Management Law Office)
  • Keiko Fujimori (Representative Director / Certified Public Accountant, ASIMOV ROBOTICS Co., Ltd.)

Materials

  1. Document 1: Compliance Committee, Information and Communications Technology Strategic Office, Cabinet Secretariat (PDF / 2304 kb)
  2. Material 2: Outline for Establishment of the Digital Agency Compliance Committee (draft) (PDF / 112 kb)
  3. Exhibit 3: Digital Agency Basic Compliance Policy (PDF / 105 kb)
  4. Minutes (PDF/706KB)

Relevant policies

Minutes

Order of business

  • Outline for Establishment of the Digital Agency Compliance Committee (draft)
  • Digital Agency Basic Compliance Policies (Draft)
  • Establishment of Internal Reporting Desk
  • Efforts Concerning Restrictions on Bidding

Summary of proceedings

After the Secretariat explained the contents of each agenda, discussions were held. The main opinions are as follows.

Outline for Establishment of the Digital Agency Compliance Committee (draft)

  • It is necessary to firmly establish the systems and roles of the Inspection Department and the procurement Examination Department.
  • It is important that autonomy is included in the purpose of installation. Specifically, it is possible to enhance the reality of the mechanism by creating a system in which transparency can be secured by the party itself, such as by self-reporting gray zone cases to the Inspection Department and receiving consultation, and at the same time, the party can voluntarily report them.
  • The procurement Examination Department is extremely important, and it is important to firmly operate it while referring to the efforts of the Contract Monitoring Committee of other ministries and agencies.
  • Since it is difficult for the procurement Examination Department to examine all of them, the person in charge must conduct his or her own examination before the budget request is made. It is necessary to standardize the examination standards (make them into rules).

Digital Agency Basic Compliance Policies (Draft)

(Following a report by Chairman Natori on the results of the survey on procurement in the "Integrated System for the Management of Health Information, etc. of Foreign Nationals Entering Japan" and an explanation by the Secretariat on Digital Agency's response policies to the seven recommendations in the report)

  • It is necessary to continue to discuss and examine how to prevent personal computers from being used for business without control.
  • The content of guidelines for our staff to follow and taking a written oath are fine, but the content is abstract. What are the "relevant norms" to be observed? There are inappropriate acts that are not violations of law. It is necessary to prepare and distribute a handbook that embodies guidelines for our staff to follow.
  • As the number of orders placed in short cycles using agile, microservices, etc. increases, close relationships and frequent communication with vendors occur. It is important to build a positive compliance system in which freedom can be secured by following rules and one can protect oneself, based on ensuring transparency.
  • To be creative and autonomous is to change what you have been doing. In order to be able to do it literally while ensuring compliance, how to manage your boss is required.
  • A monitoring mechanism is necessary. It is important to operate the rules so that they do not become a dead letter.
  • From the perspective that people make mistakes, we should consider a mechanism that prevents errors from occurring. If all data is stored in the cloud using a thin client, there will be no black boxes. It is necessary to develop a mechanism that automatically ensures compliance, such as creating a mechanism in advance that prevents data from being taken out.

Establishment of Internal Reporting Desk

  • The whistle-blowing system is very important. I would like to provide advice on how to make the whistle-blowing system function in order to detect information leakage to the outside through whistle-blowing in the future.
  • Companies that actively disseminate the whistle-blowing system to their employees are effective in preventing problems. It is outdated to view whistle-blowing as a negative report, and I would like you to proactively and actively disseminate it to your employees.
  • Employees seconded from companies are required to report to their supervisors, and there is a concern about information leakage on the spot. It is difficult to distinguish this from normal reporting.

Efforts Concerning Restrictions on Bidding

(Member Kajikawa reported on the results of the compilation by the "Study Group on Bidding Restrictions in Digital Agency")

End