Privacy Policy

Policy for Personal Information Protection

SMS Co., Ltd. (the “Company”) considers that it has a social responsibility to protect personal information received from all of its stakeholders, including all users, shareholders, officers and employees, in its role as a company engaging in business related to the creation of optimal information infrastructure in the nursing care, medical care, career, health care, senior life and global fields.

The Company hereby declares that it will promote the protection of personal information by establishing this policy and plan for personal information protection, and by causing all Company employees to thoroughly recognize the significance of and to address personal information protection.

Article 1.　Acquisition and Use of Personal Information

The Company will acquire personal information while defining the purposes of use thereof and shall use the personal information only within the scope of such purposes.

The Company has established an internal management system and takes security management measures so that personal information will not be used beyond the scope of the purposes of use.

Article 2.　Management and Protection of Personal Information

The Company will manage the personal information in a strict manner and will not disclose or provide the personal information to any third parties without first obtaining consent from the principal.

The Company sets out and implements security management measures so that personal information will not be divulged, lost or damaged. For more details about the Company's security management measures, please see the page on the Company’s website.

In addition, the Company establishes and implements procedures to prevent the recurrence of any problems. In the event of any problems occurring, the Company will promptly correct the same to prevent any recurrence thereof.

Article 3.　Compliance with Laws and Regulations

The Company will comply with the laws and regulations applicable to the handling of personal information possessed by the Company, as well as any other guidelines and other regulations prescribed by the government.

Article 4.　Handling of Inquiries and Complaints

The Company has established a system and procedures for the acceptance and handling of any inquiries and complaints on the personal information possessed by the Company, and thereby promptly handles such inquiries and complaints.

Article 5.　Continuous Improvement of Personal Information Protection Management System and Scheme

The Company continuously improves the management system and scheme for personal information protection.

Established on January 10, 2005
Last revised on April 1, 2022
SMS Co., Ltd.
(Please see the Company’s website for information on the Company’s address and the name of the representative.)

(Contact point for complaints and inquiries regarding personal information)
Contact Us
Contact: SMS Co., Ltd. Personal Information Management Office
(Please see the Company’s website for information on the Company’s address.)
*Reception hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays.
*Please note that we will not accept any inquiries or complaints made by you when you directly visit the Company.

Handling of Personal Information

1. Definition of Personal Information

(1) Personal Information is information relating to an individual which can identify the relevant individual by name, address, telephone number, email address, place of employment, date of birth, or other descriptions, etc., comprising such information, or information which includes personal identification codes or data. Personal Information also includes any information which, by itself, cannot identify the relevant individual but which can be easily compared with other information to thereby enable the identification of the individual.

(2) The Company treats the personnel related information, including, but not limited to, Cookies, User identifier, IP addresses, Advertising identifier, location data, the web browsing record and etc. If the Company use the personnel related information provided by third parties with the personnel data which the Company retains, the Company will get the consent from the user about the acquisition of such personal related information. By accepting this Privacy Policy, you have agreed to give a consent to such acquisition.

2. Management of Personal Information

The Company sets out this Privacy Policy and pays careful attention to the management of personal information of the persons using the services provided by the Company (the “Company Services”) and the persons associated with the Company, including our clients and/or customers, suppliers and/or venders, applicants to our recruiting activities and/or events, our shareholders and etc. (collectively, “Users”), as well as its officers and employees (including those who have retired), and handles the same accordingly. The Company has established internal rules regarding the protection of personal information and will endeavor to engage in various activities to enlighten its officers and employees of the same on a periodic basis, including by providing such persons with training and education on personal information protection.

3. Purpose of Use of Personal Information

The Company will use Users’ personal information for the following purposes:

(1) the Personal Information of Users, including potential clients and/or customers, who use the Company Service

1. Among Company Services, Company’s provision of the service(s) which Users give a consent to its Terms of Use (the “Using Services”), including, but not limited to, advertisement distribution through advertisement distributors;
2. In the case that there are two or more Using Services for Users, information sharing within the Company for the purpose of operational optimization of the Company Services;
3. Improvement and/or development of the Company Services;
4. Disclosure of personal information to third parties necessary for the provision of the Using Services and/or delivering information and materials for the services and products provided by the Company and the Company’s related companies, including, but not limited to, providing personal information to external platforms such as advertisement distributors after converting it into a format from which it cannot be restored, to be used by such recipients for purposes such as optimization of advertisement distribution and improvement of services (the details of such disclosure could be confirmed in each of terms of use and/or privacy policy of Using Services);
5. Delivering information and materials by way of online magazine, direct mail, etc., for the services, products and the like provided by the Company and the Company’s related companies;
6. Requests for cooperation in responding to questionnaires, reporting questionnaire results, campaign notifications, applications for participation as testers, sending of gifts, etc.;
7. Recruiting media coverage interviewees for preparing article contents;
8. Performing operations necessary for responding to inquiries from Users;
9. Processing personal information into statistical information or anonymously processed information, or the use or provision thereof;

(2) Personal Information of Users who contact the Company:

1. Performing operations necessary for responding to inquiries from Users; and
2. Improvement and/or development of the Company Services.

(3) Personal Information relating to our clients, suppliers and/or vendors:

1. Management of Users’ information, processing of payments and revenues;
2. Making necessary contacts with Users; and
3. Improvement and/or development of the Company Services.

(4) Personal Information relating to persons which apply to the Company’s recruiting activities and/or events:

1. the Company’s recruiting activities, including, but not limited to, recruitment selection, hosting of recruitment event, etc.; and
2. Making necessary contacts with Users;

(5) Personal Information relating to the Company’s shareholders:

1. Performance of the obligation and/or reactions to exercise of the Company’s shareholders’ rights under the Company Act or other relevant laws;
2. Delivery of business report and other materials; and
3. Submission of notification and report under the laws and regulations

(6) Personal Information relating to the Company’s officers and employees:

1. HR, labor, and salary management (including personnel transfers, performance evaluations, employee education, attendance management, payment of salaries and bonuses, withholding tax, and year-end tax adjustments);
2. Welfare and health management (including social insurance-related procedures, management of the employee stock ownership plan, implementation of health checkups, responses to long-term absentees, and responses to employment of people with disabilities);
3. Safety management (including prevention of theft through access/entry logs, and detection of suspicious persons through security camera footage); and
4. Sales and public relations (including sales activities and public relations activities for recruitment, etc.)

(7) Personal Information relating to the Company’s retired employees:

1. Procedures after retirement, and responses to labor-related laws and regulations;
2. Other emergency contacts; and
3. Delivery of information to retired employees regarding the Company’s recent status, recruitment information, and other various types of information

(8) Personal information with which we are entrusted;

1. Operation of entrusted businesses agreement and the related contact

*Please note that part of the documents received by the Company may not be returned.
*The related companies of the Company mean the companies as specified in the page of “Group Companies” of the Company’s website.
*Please note that call with Users may be recorded for the purpose of confirmation of the contents and/or improvement of our services.

4. Voluntariness of provision of Personal Information

Providing personal Information by User to the Company is voluntary. However, if a User fails to provide the necessary items, such User may not receive appropriate services from the Company.

5. Provision of Personal Information to Third Parties

(1) The Company will not provide User’s Personal Information to third party without such User’s consent, except in the case which the Company is legally allowed to provide Personal Information with third party under the relevant laws.

(2) Notwithstanding the above, in order to provide you with the Using Services and/or to deliver information and materials for the services and products provided by the Company and the Company’s related companies, the Company may provide to our business partners (including advertising distributors, hereinafter referred to as "Business Partners") items of personal information we have received from you that are necessary to achieve the purposes of provision described above, including, but not limited to, name, telephone number, e-mail address, information for sending materials, gender, age, work history, personal history, preferences for services you use, etc.. The method and means of provision may be in writing, orally (including by telephone), by fax, or by electromagnetic means, including telephone calls, fax, or electromagnetic means. By accepting this Privacy Policy, you have consented to such provision to third parties.

6. Joint Use of Personal Information

The Company may jointly use the personal information within the following scope:

＜Scope of joint use＞
Company and Company’s related companies
* Company’s related companies: The companies listed in the “Group Companies” pages on the Company’s website.

＜Purposes of joint use＞
All of the purposes as specified in “3. Purpose of Personal Information.”

＜Items of personal information to be jointly used＞
Items necessary for the performance of each of purposes of joint use, including, but not limited to, first and last name, telephone number, email address, sex, age, CV (Curriculum Vitae), educational background, delivery information, User’s desire,

＜Person responsible for joint use＞
SMS Co., Ltd.
(Please see the Company’s website for information on the Company’s address and the name of the representative.)

＜Personal information acquisition method＞
Acquisition by filling-in a form on the website, e-mail, facsimile, postcard, questionnaire, verbal (including via telephone), or by other documents

7. Outsourcing of Personal Information

The Company may outsource all or part of the handling of personal information to the extent necessary to achieve the purposes of use. If the Company outsources the handling of personal information, the Company will select an appropriate outsourcing partner (including an overseas business operator) and properly supervise the outsourcing partner so that the personal information will be managed in a safe manner. For more details about the security management measures implemented by the Company, please contact the Company using the contact details specified in “Contact point for complaints and inquiries regarding personal information” above.

8. Treatment of Special Care-Required Personal Information

The Company shall not acquire, use nor provide Special Care-Required Personal Information, which means personal information etc. comprising a principal’s race, creed, social status, medical history, criminal record, fact of having suffered damage by a crime, or other descriptions etc. prescribed by cabinet order as those of which the handling requires special care so as not to cause unfair discrimination, prejudice or other disadvantages to the principal, without such User’s prior consent, except in the case which the Company is allowed to acquire, use and/or provide such Special Care-Required Personal Information without User’s consent under the relevant laws.

9. Use of Statistical Data

Based on the User’s personal information received by the Company, the Company may prepare, pursuant to the procedures specified by the laws and regulations, statistical data or anonymously processed information which are processed so that the individual User cannot be identified. The Company may use such statistical data in which the User cannot be identified without any limitations.

10. Disclosure, etc., of Personal Information

(1) Contents which the User may request

The Company possesses Retained Personal Data for all of the purposes listed in the (1) through (8) of clause 3 of “Purpose of Personal Information”. In accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (the “Act”) and the internal procedure set by the Company, the Company will respond to requests of “notification of purposes of use”, “disclosure, including records provided by a third party; hereinafter the same shall apply”, “correction, addition or delete of contents” and/or “cease of utilization, erase, or cease of provision to third party” (hereinafter correctively referred to as “Request etc.”) from the principal of the personal information retained by the Company with regard to the personal information.

(2) Application procedure

Please make contact at the following address for any inquiries regarding the handling of personal information by the Company and for any requests for disclosure, or the like:

＜If via postal mail＞
SMS Co., Ltd.
Personal Information Management Office
(Please see the Company’s website for information on the Company’s address.)

＜If via email＞
SMS Co., Ltd.
Personal Information Management Office
[email protected]

Please use the following application format:
- Application for Disclosure, Etc., of Personal Information (MS Word format)
- Application for Disclosure, Etc., of Personal Information (PDF format)

*Please be advised that any inquiries made while visiting the Company will not be accepted.
*The User may be contacted by the Personal Information Management Office in order to verify his/her identity.

(3) Fees and collection method

1. The fees for any request for disclosure or notification of purposes of use shall be in the amount of JPY 500 per case (Any fees for issuance of money order (kogawase) shall be borne by the User him/herself.).
2. These fees shall include the fees for registered mail in the case of postal mail from the Company to the User.
3. No fees shall be charged in the case of correction, addition or deletion of contents, or for suspension of use.
4. Fees shall be collected by way of exchange of a fixed amount.

(4) The cases which the Company will not accept Request etc.

Please note in advance that we will not accept Request etc. with the reason in the following cases:

1. The identification of the principal of the personal information retained by the Company cannot be confirmed;
2. The representative rights of the principal cannot be confirmed, if applicable;
3. There is a risk of infringement of the life, body, property or other rights or interests of the person concerned or a third party;
4. There is a risk of significant hindrance to the proper conduct of our business;
5. It would result in a breach of law; or
6. It is not allowed to accept Request etc. under the relevant laws

Please note that if the Company delete, or cease the use of, Personal Information, User may not receive the Using Services and the Company may, in accordance with the internal rules, erase or delete Personal Information which becomes unnecessary for the Company’s business.

11. The Personal Information Protection Manager

Director of Corporate Management, SMS Co., Ltd.

Contact: [email protected]

12. Acquisition of User Information (Cookies, etc.)

The Company uses Cookies and other tracking technologies (e.g., web-beacons) to acquire information such as identifiers recorded on the User’s device and web page browsing history (hereinafter referred to as "User Information") for the purposes of improving the User’s experience, delivering and displaying optimized advertisements tailored to each customer, and improving the Company’s website and applications through access analysis and data collection.

(1) Cookies

A Cookie is a mechanism that stores the usage history, input contents, and other information sent and received between the browser and the server as a file on the User’s device when using a website.

The User can choose to allow or deny the transmission and reception of Cookies through their browser settings. If allowed, the website operator can retrieve Cookies from the User’s browser.

(2) Web-beacon

A web-beacon is an access analysis method that aggregates and analyzes website access history, email open rates, user IP addresses, browser/device types, and other data through beacon tags embedded in websites or HTML emails.

(3) Overview of User Information

The Company classifies User Information as follows:

(4) Purposes of Use of User Information

The Company classifies the purposes of use of User Information by the Company as follows:

13. Name of Accredited Personal Information Protection Organization which the Company belongs to, and Department to which Complaints should be Lodged

＜Name of accredited personal information protection organization＞
Japan Information Processing Development Center (JIPDEC)

＜Department to which complaints should be lodged＞
Administrative office of Accredited personal information protection organization

＜Address＞
Roppongi First Building, 1-9-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-0032

＜Telephone No.＞
03-5860-7565 / 0120-700-779