In a news release, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker issued a joint declaration on the free flow of information and the significance of protecting data between the two regions. "We stress the importance of ensuring a high level of privacy and security of personal data as a fundamental right and as a central factor of consumer trust in the digital economy, which also further facilitates mutual data flows, leading to the development of digital economy," Abe and Juncker stated. With new privacy reforms in both regions, "the EU and Japan have further increased the convergence between their two systems," which, they point out, "offers new opportunities to facilitate data exchanges, including through a simultaneous finding of an adequate level of protection by both sides." They conclude their statement by reaffirming their commitment to intensifying efforts to reach this goal by early 2018.
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