Privacy Policy

Article 1. Basic Policy

Zetith Beauty Clinic (the "Clinic"), operated by Medical Corporation SUNSET (the "Corporation"), deeply recognizes that patients' personal information handled in the course of medical care is extremely sensitive. The Clinic handles patients' personal information appropriately in compliance with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (Act No. 57 of 2003; the "APPI"), the Guidance on the Appropriate Handling of Personal Information by Medical and Long-Term Care Service Providers (Personal Information Protection Commission / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), and other applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines.

The Clinic adopts the following as its basic policy, establishes internal rules to implement it, makes those rules known to its staff, and strives for continuous improvement.

1. When acquiring personal information, we announce the purpose of use in advance or notify the individual of it.
2. We use personal information only within the scope necessary to achieve the announced or notified purposes of use.
3. We take necessary and appropriate security measures to prevent the leakage, loss, or damage of personal data.
4. Except where permitted by law, we do not provide personal data to third parties without the individual's prior consent.
5. We respond in good faith, in accordance with the law, to requests for disclosure, correction, suspension of use, and the like concerning retained personal data.
6. We respond promptly and sincerely to consultations and complaints concerning the handling of personal information.

Article 2. Names of the Corporation and the Clinic

Article 3. Personal Information We Collect

The Clinic collects the personal information listed below. Of this information, medical history, details of examinations and procedures, test results, and other information concerning health and the body constitute "special care-required personal information" under the APPI, and the Clinic handles such information with particular care.

Article 4. Purposes of Use of Personal Information

The Clinic uses the personal information it collects within the scope of the following purposes.

4-1. Purposes necessary for providing medical care to patients

(1) Use within the Clinic

• Medical and clinical services the Clinic provides to patients
• Medical insurance administration
• Administrative operations of the Clinic concerning patients, including reception management of admissions, discharges, and reservations; accounting and bookkeeping; reporting of medical incidents; and improvement of the medical services provided to the patient

(2) Use involving provision of information to other businesses

• Cooperation with other hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, home-visit nursing stations, long-term care service providers, and similar organizations
• Responses to inquiries from other medical institutions
• Seeking opinions or advice from external physicians and other specialists concerning a patient's care
• Outsourcing of laboratory testing and other services
• Explanation of a patient's condition to their family members
• Within medical insurance administration, submission of claims to review and payment organizations and responses to inquiries from such organizations or insurers
• Consultations with, or reports to, medical professional bodies and insurance companies in connection with physicians' liability insurance and the like

4-2. Other purposes of use

(1) Use within the Clinic

• Within the Clinic's administrative operations, use as basic data for maintaining and improving medical services and operations
• Case studies and medical research conducted within the Clinic (as provided in Article 5)
• Education and training of medical staff within the Clinic and cooperation with student training
• Aggregation and analysis of information for patient safety and infection control
• Confirmation of reservations, communications concerning care, and aftercare information

(2) Use involving provision of information to other businesses

• Provision of information to external audit organizations
• Provision of information to an external research ethics committee, to the extent necessary for the review of medical research (as provided in Article 5)

Article 5. Use in Medical Research

To contribute to the safety and quality of aesthetic medicine, the Clinic conducts medical research using information obtained in the course of everyday care (case studies, case-series studies, retrospective observational studies, and the like) and presents the results at academic conferences and in academic journals. This Article sets out how information is handled in that context.

5-1. Approach to use in medical research

As provided in Article 4, the Clinic has announced in advance, as a purpose of use, that information obtained in the course of care may be used for medical research. Accordingly, use in medical research conducted within the Clinic falls within the announced purposes of use.

Nevertheless, so that no patient's information is used in research against their wishes, the Clinic accepts requests to opt out of research use at any time, and upon such a request excludes the patient's information from research (see 5-6).

5-2. Scope of information used in research

Research uses only the minimum information, from among the categories listed in Article 3, necessary to achieve the purpose of the particular study. The specific items of information used in each study are set out in the information disclosure document prepared for that study (see 5-7).

5-3. Ethics review

Medical research conducted by the Clinic is planned in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines for Life Science and Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare / Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and is carried out only after review and approval by the external research ethics committee to which the Clinic entrusts review. That committee is as follows.

In the course of review, information processed so that individual patients cannot be identified may be provided to the committee, within the scope described in the research protocol.

5-4. Processing to prevent identification

Information used in research is handled after deleting names, addresses, patient registration numbers, and other descriptions that could directly identify an individual, replacing them with a research identification number. The correspondence table linking identification numbers to patients is kept on separate media and in a separate location from the research data, and is strictly managed by the responsible person under lock and password.

When research results are presented at academic conferences or in academic journals, this is done in a form that does not identify individuals.

5-5. Handling of clinical photographs and videos

In aesthetic medicine, clinical photographs and videos taken before and after procedures are important clinical records. They are handled as follows.

1. Taking and storing them as clinical records, and using them for case review within the Clinic, is done within the purposes of use set out in Article 4.
2. When photographs or videos from which an individual can be identified by facial features or otherwise are to be published outside the Clinic — through conference presentations, submission to academic journals, the website, advertising, or other means — we obtain separate written consent on each occasion, after specifically explaining the scope and method of publication.
3. The consent in the preceding item may be withdrawn at any time. Upon a request for withdrawal, we immediately cease further use. However, for materials already printed or published, retrieval or other remediation may not be possible.

5-6. If you do not wish your information to be used in research (opt-out)

If you do not wish your information to be used in medical research, please contact the desk set out in Article 14. Upon your request, the Clinic will exclude your information from research.

You may make this request at any time, for any reason or none. Making the request will not disadvantage you in your care or in any other respect.

Note that after statistical processing has been completed, or after the results of a study have been published, we may be unable to honor the request with respect to that study. Even in that case, your information will be excluded from subsequent research.

5-7. Public information on individual studies

For each study the Clinic conducts, we prepare an information disclosure document stating the study title, its purpose and methods, the items of information used, the study period, the principal investigator, and a contact desk, and publish it on the Clinic's website and by notice within the Clinic. On request, and to the extent compatible with the protection of personal information and the originality of the research, you may view the research protocol and materials on the research methods.

Article 6. Security Measures for Personal Data

The Clinic takes the following measures to prevent the leakage, loss, or damage of personal data and otherwise to manage personal data securely.

Article 7. Provision of Personal Data to Third Parties

Except in the following cases, the Clinic does not provide personal data to third parties without the individual's prior consent.

1. Where required by law
2. Where necessary to protect a person's life, body, or property and it is difficult to obtain the individual's consent
3. Where particularly necessary to improve public health or promote the sound development of children and it is difficult to obtain the individual's consent
4. Where cooperation is necessary for a national or local government agency, or a party entrusted by one, to carry out duties prescribed by law, and obtaining the individual's consent would risk impeding those duties
5. Where joint use under Article 8 applies, or where data is provided in connection with outsourcing under Article 9

Because the medical information the Clinic handles constitutes special care-required personal information, the Clinic does not use the so-called opt-out method of third-party provision under Article 27, Paragraph 2 of the APPI (providing data to third parties after prior notice or publication unless the individual objects).

Article 8. Joint Use of Personal Data

The Clinic does not currently engage in joint use of personal data. Should joint use become necessary in the future — for example, for joint research with other medical or research institutions — we will publish in advance the items of personal data to be jointly used, the scope of joint users, their purposes of use, and the name of the person or entity responsible for managing the data.

Article 9. Outsourcing of Personal Information Handling

The Clinic may outsource all or part of the handling of personal information, within the scope necessary to achieve the purposes of use. Examples of outsourced services include laboratory testing, maintenance and operation of electronic medical records and other information systems, operation of the reservation management system, medical administration, and document storage and disposal.

When outsourcing, we select contractors that meet an adequate standard of personal information protection, include provisions on the appropriate handling of personal information in the contract, and exercise necessary and appropriate supervision.

Article 10. Provision to Third Parties in Foreign Countries

The Clinic does not currently provide personal data to third parties in foreign countries. If it does so in the future, it will obtain the individual's consent in advance, after providing information on the name of the country, that country's system for the protection of personal information, and the measures the third party takes to protect personal information.

Article 11. Disclosure and Related Requests Concerning Retained Personal Data

With respect to personal data held by the Clinic, the individual or their representative may make the following requests.

Requests are accepted at the contact desk set out in Article 14. After verifying your identity, we will respond without delay in accordance with the law.

For requests for notification of purposes of use and for disclosure, a fee of 110 yen per page applies (postage is charged separately for delivery by mail).

Please note that, as provided by law, we may be unable to grant all or part of a request. In that case, we will notify you with the reasons.

Article 12. Retention Periods and Disposal of Personal Information

The Clinic retains medical records and other records for the periods prescribed by the Medical Practitioners' Act, the Medical Care Act, and other laws. Records not subject to statutory periods are retained for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes of use and are then disposed of by appropriate means.

Information used in medical research is stored appropriately and then disposed of by whichever is later: the day five years after the study's completion is reported, or the day three years after the final publication of its results is reported.

Paper records are disposed of by shredding or dissolution; electronic media by complete data erasure or physical destruction of the media.

Article 13. Response to Leakage and Similar Incidents

If a leakage, loss, damage, or other incident affecting the security of personal data occurs, the Clinic will promptly investigate the facts and take necessary measures, including prevention of secondary harm. Where the incident involves special care-required personal information or otherwise falls under the circumstances prescribed by the APPI and its enforcement rules, we will report to the Personal Information Protection Commission and notify the affected individuals.

Article 14. Contact Desk for Inquiries and Complaints

Consultations on the handling of personal information, disclosure and related requests, and requests to opt out of medical research use are accepted at the following desk.

If you are not satisfied with the Clinic's response, you may consult the Personal Information Protection Commission.

Article 15. Security Camera Recording

The Clinic operates security cameras inside the clinic and in some outside areas for the safety of patients and staff and for crime prevention. Footage is used only within those purposes, retained for 24.6 days, and then deleted in sequence. It is not provided to third parties except where required by law.

Article 16. Information Handling on the Clinic Website

The Clinic's website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve usability and analyze site traffic. You can refuse cookies in your browser settings, but some features may then be unavailable.

Information entered in the reservation and inquiry forms on the website is used to respond to your reservation or inquiry. The handling of personal information on third-party websites linked from the Clinic's website is governed by those websites' own policies.

Article 17. Personal Information of Minors

When collecting personal information from minors, the Clinic explains matters in a manner suited to their age and understanding, and obtains the consent of a parent or other legal representative where necessary. The same applies to use in medical research.

Article 18. Revisions to This Policy

The Clinic may revise this policy in response to changes in law, social conditions, or other circumstances. The revised policy takes effect when posted on the Clinic's website. For material changes, notice will be given within the clinic and on the website.