Last month a bill aimed at facilitating medical research through the use of patient records stored at medical institutions cleared the Diet.

The law, commonly called Jisedai Iryo-kiban Ho — roughly translated as the next-generation medical infrastructure law — will allow medical big data to be pooled anonymously so it can be utilized for research into diseases and the development of new drugs.

Here are some basic questions and answers on the new law, which is set to come into effect by next May.