The threat of fine or imprisonment for leaking personal data is driving sales of paper shredders.

`They're showing that they take private data management seriously.'OFFICIAL OF SHREDDER MAKER MEIKOSHOKAI CO. Explaining the motivation of some customers

With stiffer privacy protection laws heading for the books, everyone it seems is snapping up paper shredders to destroy documents that contain sensitive personal data.

As of April, companies will have to be especially careful about keeping control of records with personal information, such as receipts, credit card applications and bank statements. Violators could face imprisonment of up to six months, or a maximum fine of 300,000 yen.

Last year, domestic paper shredder sales increased by 30 percent over 2003.

But it isn't just companies taking the new privacy policy seriously.

Shredders are finding their way into cram schools, video rental shops, wedding and funeral halls-even the neighborhood dry cleaners.

Staff at a Japan Railway station in Osaka that purchased a paper shredder last November are kept busy feeding bundles of documents into the machine. There is plenty of paperwork to be destroyed: commuter pass applications, order forms for registered train tickets, search requests for lost items.

Containing names, addresses and phone numbers, these documents were once torn up by hand or cut up with scissors by the tens of thousands each month.

West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) plans to introduce paper shredders at 128 more stations in fiscal 2005.

The biggest maker of paper shredders in Japan is Tokyo-based Meikoshokai Co.

According to a company official, its clientele, once almost exclusively government offices and financial institutions, suddenly changed last year.

Meikoshokai is now dealing with a wide range of businesses.

Some department stores and cellphone shops like to keep a paper shredder handy by the cashier or near the reception desk to shred any botched forms right before the customer's eyes.

A Meikoshokai official explained: ``They're showing that they take private data management seriously.''

More companies are choosing to install shredders on every floor or at every outlet rather than have the paper collected and processed by the general affairs department.

That probably explains why the company is selling many small shredders that cost less than 200,000 yen. Machines that make short work of floppy discs and CDs are in high demand, too.

Fear of identity-fraud crime is also behind the surge in business. Data-filled documents carelessly disposed of are increasingly ending up in the wrong hands.

Last May, it was revealed that documents containing private patient data, including hospitalization history, had been leaked from a hospital in Mie Prefecture to outside sources. According to regulations, these documents were supposed to have been shredded. The order was not carried out, and the stash was simply left unprocessed in the garbage collection area.

Two years ago, the Nagano prefectural police arrested an individual who had lifted personal data from a credit card receipt thrown into a waste bin at a supermarket. The culprit had used the information to make purchases on the Internet.

Come April, when privacy laws come into full effect, companies that leak personal information will be subject to reprimand and even criminal liability. Beyond that, there is even the possibility of civil suits for damages.

This development has not been lost on office equipment and supplies manufacturers.

They are busy holding seminars on privacy policies and how to protect personal data, hoping to expand sales even further.

Nakabayashi Co., based in Osaka, provides a unique ``extra.'' Offering a ``shredding service that comes to you,'' the company dispatches a truck with a large shredder to an office to make quick work of unwanted documents.

Nakabayashi has even begun a tie-up with a used paper dealer to recycle the shredded documents.

Actually, this is not the first big shredder boom. Back in 1998, paper-shredder manufacturers enjoyed explosive sales when school incinerators were abolished out of concern for toxic dioxin fumes.

At that time, most of the customers were schools.

This time around, the enactment of privacy laws was responsible for the rise in domestic sales that began in 2003.

About 35,000 units were sold in 2004. Industry sources predict a further 5 percent growth for this year.

``We're looking at another specific procurement surge,'' enthused one source from the Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association.

Jiro Makino, a lawyer specializing in personal information protection, commented: ``When it came to destroying documents, (personal information) was being treated without proper respect. Work was outsourced or paperwork was simply thrown out together with other burnables. Now, if there is a privacy leak, corporations will not only lose their credibility but also be prone to identity fraud cases such as the rampant ore, ore (`it's me') crimes, and may end up getting stuck with huge compensation bills.

``Implementing security measures comes at a price, such as purchasing shredders. But if companies don't make the investment, they risk losing their shirts.''(IHT/Asahi: February 17,2005)(IHT/Asahi: February 17,2005)