1. Status and Purpose
Between 2004 and 2017, five Groups of Governmental Experts on Developments in the
Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security
(GGE), composed of experts appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations
(UN), were established based on UN General Assembly resolutions. The GGE reports of
2013 and 2015 agreed by consensus by the governmental experts affirm that existing
international law, in particular the UN Charter in its entirety, is applicable to cyber
operations1. By the endorsement of the reports by consensus at the UN General Assembly,
this affirmation has become the consensus view of all UN Member States. In the 2015
report, the group offered various important views on how international law applies to
cyber operations. The group also recommended continued study on how international law
applies. The fifth GGE failed to adopt a report in 2017, one of the reasons for which was
that discussions on the application of international law did not achieve a sufficient
convergence of opinions. From 2019, the sixth GGE2 had intensive discussions on how
international law applies. Its report was adopted by consensus on May 28, 2021.
This document summarizes the basic position at the moment of the Government of
Japan on international law applicable to cyber operations. It was prepared as a national
contribution at the request of the Chair of the GGE on the assumption that it will be
included in the annex to the group's report to be submitted by the Secretary-General to the
General Assembly pursuant to the mandate specified in Resolution 73/266, which
requested the Secretary-General to establish the GGE. In this document, the Government
of Japan reaffirms that existing international law, including the UN Charter in its entirety,
is applicable to cyber operations, and states its present position on how existing
international law applies to cyber operations focusing its views on the most important and
most basic matters. The contents of this document take into consideration the discussions
held by the six GGEs including the current one (governmental experts were appointed
from among officials of the Government of Japan to serve on four GGEs, including the
current one) and by the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG), which was established in
2019; the discussions held in bilateral and multilateral consultations between the
governments of Japan and other States; the results of non-governmental research
activities, including Tallinn Manuals 1.0 and 2.0, which were prepared by experts,
including those from non-NATO States such as Japan, in their personal capacity with the
support of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence; and the
discussions held in multi-stakeholder fora, including ones led by Japan.
The Government of Japan hopes that the announcement of a basic position on
international law applicable to cyber operations by the governments of many States and
the application of international law in international and domestic courts and tribunals will
deepen the shared international understanding on how international law applies to cyber
1
In this document, the term "cyber operations" refers to operations using information and communication
equipment and technology.
2
The official name for the sixth GGE is GGE on Advancing responsible State behavior in cyberspace in the
context of International Security.
1