The Tokyo District Court dismissed a demand Friday by Tokyo's Suginami Ward that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government accept partial data on residents for the national resident registry network.
Presiding Judge Hiroyuki Kanno said it is illegal for a local government to file data of only residents who consent, excluding those of residents who wish to refrain from joining the network out of a concern for privacy.
The electronic registry network, called Juki Net and launched in August 2002, stores residents' personal information and shares it with the central and local governments.
In the lawsuit, the ward sought the court's recognition of the metropolitan government's obligation to accept partial data.
But the court dismissed the demand, saying the case "does not stand as a legal suit subject to a court's examination."
Suginami Ward initially refused to take part in the network, saying the system lacks features to protect privacy. It later decided to phase in its participation, allowing residents to decide whether to have their personal data entered rather than making them comply at once.
But the central and metropolitan governments refused to accept the data, saying all the ward's residents must participate in the system.