How to make your Shopify store compliant with the new Japanese APPI law

Privacy Laws

8 mins

Alexandrina Filipova
May 23, 2022

Adhering to Japanese APPI Law: Ensuring Compliance for Your Shopify Store

We are happy to announce that we have recently added APPI Compliance for Japan to the Consentmo app. This new feature addition allows stores located in Japan or those that operate with this country to stay compliant with the latest regulations. Let’s check what steps you should follow in order to make your Shopify store compliant with the APPI law:

I am a new user, what should I do?

Right after installing the app, you will need to go through the Quick Setup. There you will be able to select the APPI region as a location where the Cookie Bar will be shown. 

APPI region in the Quick Setup

When you are done with the Quick Setup you will be forwarded to the Dashboard where you will see the specific regions for which you just have enabled the app.

Enable app on the Dashboard

The APPI Compliance page is automatically pre-generated with the app's installation. In order to see what the page looks like in the admin side of the app click on the View Your APPI page button.

View Your APPI page button

How the APPI Compliance page looks like on the admin side of the app

APPI Compliance page on the admin side

This is how the APPI Compliance page looks like on your storefront

APPI Compliance page on your storefront

We would recommend adding the APPI Compliance page to the footer of your store, so it will be easier for your customers to access it. Follow the steps below in order to add it:

1. Go to Online Store

2. Click on Navigation

3. Then select Footer Menu

Adding APPI Compliance page to footer menu

4. Click on the Add menu item

Adding APPI Compliance page to footer menu

5. Next, add a name for the link, here our example footer link will show APPI Compliance page

6. Lastly, select the APPI Compliance page in order to add it

Adding APPI Compliance page to footer menu

Now let's try submitting a random request. Here is an example of how you can submit a Do Not Sell My Personal Information request:

1. Click on Do Not Sell My Personal Information

2. Enter your email address and click on Submit

3. Confirm your consent on giving your email and IP address for the purpose of the request.

Submitting a request from Compliance page
Confirm your consent on giving your email and IP address

Once the request is submitted, you as an admin of the store will receive an email notification in regards to it. 

When clicking on the Check Customer Info button, you will see the customer's personal data within your store and you can also reach out to him in order to confirm that his data won't be sold to any third parties.

This is how the email notification for Do Not Sell My Personal Information request looks like

How the email notification for Do Not Sell My Personal Information request looks like

Here is another example of how you can submit a request, this time for Editing your personal account information:

1. Click on Edit your account information

2. Enter your email address and click on Submit

3. Confirm your consent on giving your email and IP address for the purpose of the request submission.

How to submit a request
How to submit a request

When submitting the request mentioned above, the customer will receive an email notification in regards to it.

This is how the Request Email for Editing account information looks like

How to submit a request

By clicking on the button in the email the customer will be forwarded to a page where the account information can be edited.

This is how the Request Page for Editing account information looks like

Request Page for Editing account information
How should I proceed as an existing user?

When accessing the app as an existing user, you will see a popup message notifying of the new app updates. Here you will be able to choose between two options:

  • Option 1: You can proceed with creating the APPI Compliance page in case your business operates in or ships to Japan.
  • Option 2: You can skip this step and continue using the app as-it-is if you don't have affiliation with that region.

Here is how the notification message looks like

Notification message in the Consentmo app

In order to make your Shopify store compliant with the APPI law, just click on the Create APPI Page and the Compliance page will be automatically generated.

This is how the success message for this action looks like

The success message

The next step is to Enable the app for the Japanese region. To do so, follow the steps listed below

1. Navigate to the Global Settings tab

2. Choose Enable for Japan visitors (APPI) in the Enable For Specific Regions section

Enable for Japan visitors (APPI) in the Enable For Specific Regions section

Next, you should add the APPI Compliance page to the footer of your store, so all your visitors can have an easy access to it. Afterwards, you can try submitting a random request in order to check whether everything works as it should. By following the steps mentioned above you will be able to add the Compliance page and make a few tests with the requests.

In order to help you with that process, we have created a dedicated video tutorial showing all the steps mentioned above:

And that is all you need to do in order to be compliant with the APPI regulations in Japan.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our support team via chat or email.

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